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Did you
know that some of the people who started the Church of
England as we know it were burned to death as martyrs?
Those who think the C of E was merely started by Henry
VIII because he wanted a divorce, don’t know the facts.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the man behind our old Prayer
Book, was burned to death in Broad Street, Oxford. After
two years in prison for his faith, Cranmer signed a
recantation (renunciation) of his new Protestant,
Reformed C of E faith and affirming allegiance to the
Pope. He was “pardoned” by Catholic Queen Mary, but
still sentenced to death. On March 21st 1556
dressed in ragged clothes and a dunce’s cap, he was led
to St. Mary’s, Oxford, to recant publicly. Instead he
renounced his recantation and reaffirmed his Protestant
Faith. He was taken out, stripped, chained to a stake
piled high with wood and burned alive for his faith.
Before he died he held out his right hand to be burned
because he had used it to sign his earlier recantation.
The previous October Bishop
Hugh Latimer was burned to death with Bishop Nicholas
Ridley. Whilst dying, Latimer said: Be of good comfort,
Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light
such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust
shall never be put out.
I thank God for such
dedication and self-sacrifice.
How about us? True, we
aren’t called upon to be martyred for our faith. Do we
really believe in Good Friday? Are we prepared to be
truly dedicated and self-sacrificing because of Good
Friday?
At the heart of the
Christian Faith is the belief that the Son of God who
had lived for eternity in the joy of heaven, became a
man and was crucified for our sins. God, the judge, paid
the penalty for us, the lawbreakers, so that we might be
forgiven and eventually join him in that joy of heaven.
Jesus was mocked, beaten up,
spat upon, flogged with a leather whip embedded with
pieces of metal and stone. Huge nails were hammered
through his wrists and feet. He hung in agony and
desperate thirst under the hot Middle East sun
surrounded by a jeering crowd. Worse, he was bearing our
guilt, the guilt of all humanity, which was so terrible
he cried out to his Father: “My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?” God-forsakenness is Hell.
If we Christians really
believe that, why do we often not live up to it? Why do
we tolerate wrong thoughts, words and actions in our
lives, for which Jesus died? Why do we give way to fear
of ridicule or love of comfort or determination to live
as we please and so soft pedal our commitment to Christ?
Do we really believe in Good
Friday?
As someone
said: “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no
sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
Tony Higton
What did the Archbishop really say
about Sharia Law?
If you want to know
(amidst all the misrepresentation) have a look at the
Rector’s Blog on
http://www.churchinthewoottons.net/rectorsblog/ |
Do
We Believe in 3 Gods?
