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Celtic Evening Prayer It’s a real treat to hear the Northumbria pipes being played tonight and to be using prayers and music which have their roots in Northumbria. And it’s to Northumbria I’d like to take us now. Just off the north east coast of England lies a large tidal island which is cut off by the sea twice a day. A road runs across the causeway and residents and visitors are able to cross between the island and the mainland safely at low tide. It is the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, perhaps you have visited or seen it on TV. It is a popular destination for both tourists and pilgrims. Thanks to the Venerable Bede who wrote these things down, the first person whose name we know who lived on Lindisfarne was St Aidan (though there’d been Stone Age People on the Island since 8000BC). These isles were a very different place 1400 years ago. The Romans had withdrawn sometime in the 4th century leaving a number of different peoples in charge. The isles, including the area we now know as England, were wild, densely forested and populated by Angles, the original British, the Irish, and the Saxons. There were a number of smaller kingdoms and tribal areas; there was often warfare, conflict and shifting alliances. These early middle ages were brutal and difficult. To survive you had to be tough. In AD633 Oswald won Northumbria in battle and became it’s king, he asked the Irish monks at Iona to send a Christian mission to his people. Aidan and twelve other monks came and chose to settle on Lindisfarne. Aidan established a monastery here where the monks lived a life of prayer, study and austerity. From here Aidan went out into the Northumbrian countryside; walking the lanes, talking to the people he met, sharing the good news that we are created and loved by God. Slowly Christian communities were formed in Northumberland. Once Aidan was given a horse by the king, to save him walking like a peasant. Characteristically he gave it away to a beggar. Aidan sought to treat all people with equal respect and not to let wealth or status influence him or keep him from anyone. He lived a frugal life, encouraging people to fast and study the scriptures. He himself fasted regularly and despite invitations he seldom ate at the kings table, preferring instead to give his food away to those who were hungry or using any gifts he received to buy the freedom of slaves. During Lent, Aidan retired to the small and harsh island of Farne for prayer and penitence. Aidan was keen to ensure monks carried on the work of mission after his generation, so beginning with twelve boys, Aidan taught Latin and the reading and writing of scripture, modelling the life of a Christian to ensure that the monastery continued its work of bringing the good news of Jesus to all people. We don’t know who first brought Christianity to England in the days of the Roman Empire, there’s no one obvious apostle. Yet if one person was to be chosen as the one who clearly helped to spread the Christian faith in these isles, it would be Aidan, who is often named the Apostle of England. Aidan’s name means “little fire” or “flame” for both the passion which burned in his heart and the light that shone from his life in dark times. The collect of St Aidan speaks of his simplicity, humility and love for the poor. Aidan was a follower of Jesus who grew throughout his life as a disciple of Jesus, by reading and studying the scriptures, by living and sharing his life with others, by going out telling others about Jesus and by demonstrating his love for God by his actions. Aidan set aside regular time to draw deeper into relationship with God. Aidan was someone who knew what it was to know God and to be known by the God who made him and loved him. Like Aidan, the writer of Proverbs, which Guy read to us, knew what it was to spend time with God and to know God. The writer has some very simple advice for those of us who want to grow up in our relationship with God. Read and study God’s word, treasure God’s commandments, take time to listen carefully from the heart to God’s heart. And when understanding eludes us (as it does for many of us) we’re encouraged to cry out to God for help, not giving up but searching for God like hidden treasure. To be a follower of Jesus, as Aidan was, is to be active in growing our relationship with God and his Son Jesus, setting aside time to be with God in prayer and studying the scriptures. To be a follower of Jesus is to work at living out our faith in the way we respond to all of God’s creation. Proverbs reminds us that this is a dynamic relationship, not static, one that is living, that grows and draws us deeper into God’s heart, as we delight in discovering more each day of God’s love for us. The flame and light of faith that was Aidan’s can also be ours through God’s grace and the indwelling of God’s Spirit in our lives. And as with any loving relationship, the joy we experience in knowing God’s love is contagious and reaches out to others in their walk with God too.
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