St Alphege's Day

Sermon, preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15am Eucharist on Sunday 20th April 2008.
(A shortened version was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege)

Easter 5: Year A (St Alphege’s day transferred from 19th April)

Readings: Acts 7:55-60 1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14]


Yesterday was the 996th anniversary of the death of St Alphege. In the church, and outside the church and up the high street we held St Alphege fair. There were stalls selling plants and bric-a-brac and refreshments. The Sealed Knot paraded around as mediaeval soldiers. The Guardians of St Alphege Church held a flag day and the infant school performed dances in the high street. In church there was a flower festival and craft displays and trips to the bell tower. The mayor came, and it was the mayoress’s birthday, so we sang happy birthday. Despite a cold east wind many people came and enjoyed themselves. Many, many people helped and contributed in different ways, not least our verger Sandra who did much of the organising. And so we can say thank you to all those people who contributed, and give thanks to God for a wonderful day.
And if you missed it there will be another St Alphege fair next year. And as we think about London preparing to host the Olympic Games in July 2012 it seems to me that we in Solihull need to start thinking about how, in April 2012, we are going to mark the 1000th anniversary of the martyrdom of St Alphege.
So who was St Alphege and why is he so important?
Well, Alphege was a monk who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1006. He lived an austere and simple life, filled with prayer. He was gentle and merciful to those around him. He could adapt his speech and mind to every type of person. He was generous in giving the church’s money to the poor and his example encouraged others to do the same. He was highly esteemed and greatly loved.
But in the summer of 1011 the Danes invaded South West of England. The raiders attacked Canterbury and after a short siege it fell to the Danes in September 1011. The Danes were extremely brutal. They burned the city and killed most of the people; men, women and children. They also took into captivity anyone for whom they thought they might be able to extract ransom and most prominent amongst these was England’s beloved archbishop, Alphege. He was badly injured and then kept in chains in a dark, damp, dungeon, with frogs to keep him company, but he bore all these insults with great patience. He kept on praying and giving thanks to God in a way that deeply impressed the Danes whose job it was to guard him. The Danes wanted the church in England to pay a great ransom to have Alphege released. The trouble was that Alphege would not co-operate with this plan. He commanded the church not to pay. They tortured Alphege, but he would not ask for a ransom, so for seven months a situation of stalemate existed. Then in April 1012 a terrible disease struck the Danish invaders. They found themselves writhing in pain and two thousand of them died. The Christians told them to repent of their terrible deeds in the sacking of Canterbury and to go with remorse to their prisoner Alphege. More and more of the Danes went to Alphege, repenting of their sins and asking for his prayers for healing. On Maundy Thursday Alphege remembered Jesus, who washed the feet of Judas and shared bread with him, even though he knew that Judas was about to betray him. Alphege asked the Danes to bring him bread. He blessed the bread and gave it back to the Danes, and all the Danes who ate that bread were healed, and the great illness past away. This miracle deeply impressed his Danish captors, but no sooner had they recovered than they demanded a ransom once again. When Alphege refused to help they heaped yet more terrible tortures on him. But then Alphege started to see visions of God. He was miraculously healed from his injuries and his prison was so filled by the power of God that none of the Danes dared to touch him. The Danish leaders became very worried about Alphege, because he was held in such awe and esteem by many of the soldiers that it was no longer clear that they would obey orders about Alphege.
Alphege was summonsed to the court of the Danish leaders. He was brought before them during a big drunken party. They once again demanded gold from him and he once again refused. They started to throw stones and ox bones at him and he fell to the ground, still praying for the church and for his captors. One of the Danes, Thrum, who had been deeply moved by Alphege, saw him struggling at deaths door and decided to end his suffering. He struck Alphege on the back of the head with an axe, and he died on 19th April 1012.

By a strange coincidence our lectionary reading for today, the fifth Sunday of Easter, is the Stoning of Stephen. It is a story very similar to the martyrdom of Alphege. I normally say my morning payers in St Alphege chapel looking forward at two stain glass windows. On my left I have the stoning of Stephen, on my right the martyrdom of Alphege. It is a very humbling way to start the day.

Why is it that the stories of the martyrs are so moving? Why do they have such a big effect on us? Well I think they bare witness to a world beyond this world; the world we were created for; a world where we live with in a full relationship with Jesus. It is world where the Son of Man stands at the right hand of God, as Stephen told us. In our gospel today, Jesus described it as a dwelling place in the father house, where we will be with together with Jesus.
Martyrs are people who have progressed so deeply into their relationship with Jesus that they know, deep in their being, that being true to their relationship with Jesus is the only important thing. The joys and sufferings of this present world will all pass away, but our relationship with Jesus has enduring value.
So let’s build on the witness of the martyrs by building stronger our relationship with Jesus. Let’s grow in our love for Jesus by praying with him to the Father, by following the commandments of Jesus, by loving Jesus present in the people around us (c.f. Matt 25:40). In this way we can build our relationship with Jesus, and this has real and lasting value.