St Alban’s day is on the 22nd of June, but we celebrated it as St Alban’s Church yesterday (25th June). Our main services at St Alban’s are very traditional and that is how we celebrated the day.Normally of Saturday we have a less formal communion service at 5pm for our younger people with a simple service and an activity. It doesn’t matter if our services are elaborate or simple so long as they bring people closer to God.St Alban was executed by the Romans as a result of helping a Christian priest escape. Last week was also refugee week. St Alban helped Christian priest to escape oppression (it is perhaps stretching a point, but in modern terms become a refugee).There are many parts of the world where Christians are persecuted for their faith, and many other people are persecuted for their faith or political beliefs. As I think of St Alban I think about what I can do for asylum seekers and refugees. At Ark St Alban's academy our students with be considering that question in collective worship on Monday.
Today we celebrated The Mystery of the Trinity. The Trinity is a uniquely Christian idea of God. There is a lot of theology and philosophy about the Trinity, but actually the concept originates in the Christian experience of God. We experience God as Father, we experience God by knowing Jesus the Son, the we experience the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. While we experience God as these three different persons, we also know that there is only one God. The word Trinity comes from Tri- meaning three and [u]nity naming one.As a Christian the concept of Trinity is an important part of my idea and experience of God but I recognise that everyone’s experience of God, or something outside ourselves is different. For some people’s experience of, or the idea of God, is bad and they might reject the idea of God completely while other’s reject the idea of God on philosophical grounds. For Hindus God is experienced in many forms, though they still believe that there is only one God or ultimate reality. For Jews and Muslims, the oneness of God is the most important.Whatever we believe about God, respecting other people’s beliefs is important.
This week I have been preparing collective worship to celebrate the Ascension of Jesus. The Ascension comes 40 days after Easter Sunday so it’s always on a Thursday. There is a symmetry about Lent, Easter and Ascension. There are 40 fast days of Lent before Easter and 40 days of Easter before Ascension.The sequence doesn’t end with Ascension but carries on to Pentecost (when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit), Trinity Sunday (when we celebrate the Christian concept of God being three {Father, Son, and Holy Spirit}, yet, one God) and Corpus Christi (when some Christians celebrate Holy Communion). There is reference to the Ascension of the Prophet Mohamad PBUH in the Qu’ran. This is very different concept. In Christianity Jesus is returning to the Father to take up his place within God. In Islam the prophet is shown heaven but returns to earth having been strengthen. They both have the theme of giving strength to carry on and carry our God’s purpose in the world. For Christians the Ascension is a step on the way to Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost is what gives Christians strength. For the Prophet Mohamad PBUH the vison of heaven is what gives strength. Atheists might look at the works of a philosopher or the example of good people to give strength. Wherever we find it, we all need a source of strength which is outside ourselves, at least some of the time.
Jesus said “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” John 13:34Jesus meant a “selfless love that is passionately committed to the well-being of others.” (C. S Lewis The Four Loves). We don’t have to be Christian, or even people of faith to believe that loving one another in this way is a good thing and if there was more love the world would be a better place. One of the great things about this selfless love is that it doesn’t get used up, it is not a zero-sum game. In fact, the more you love, the more love you have to give.As staff of Ark St Alban’s Academy, and indeed all people involved in education, we are called to be passionately committed to the well-being of our students. As humans we are called to be passionately committed to the well-being of every member of staff and every human as well. Our inspiration from this might some from Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism or from a non-religious philosophy, but we can all strive for the well-being of everyone around us.
