And the greatest of these is love

Over the past few days I’ve been exploring various sites in Greece with a group of thirty-four other people – all of whom are Christians. This is in stark contrast to a month or so ago when I was travelling solo for three and a half weeks through parts of Israel and Palestine.

I’ve been reflecting on what it is like to travel with people who (apparently) believe in the same things that I do: that Jesus Christ was the Son of God who died and rose again for both my salvation and the salvation of the world.

Yesterday at the site of the Baptism of Lydia, we were invited to renew our Baptismal Vows. For many of us, these vows were made by our parents and Godparents at our Baptism (Christening) when we were infants. Some of us will have renewed these Vows at our Confirmation, and others will renew them each year at an Easter Vigil Service.

In baptism, God calls us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
To follow Christ means dying to sin and rising to new life with him. Therefore I ask:

Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?
I reject them.
Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?
I renounce them.
Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour?
I repent of them.
Do you turn to Christ as Saviour?
I turn to Christ.
Do you submit to Christ as Lord?
I submit to Christ.
Do you come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life?
I come to Christ.

When Christians are baptised, it is into the Universal Church. Baptism is not into a specific denomination - Protestant, Catholic, Baptist, Orthodox or any other – those who are Baptised are Baptised into the Church of God. How and where anyone chooses to worship later may be in any one of these denominations, but where we all begin is exactly the same. It is a pity that so many Christians forget this truth and that the denominational markers of practice and orthodoxy become barriers to the simple truths that we are children of God and we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.

In these past days of travelling with this group of fellow Christians – some of whom are Church of England, others members of the United Reformed Church, Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches – it has been interesting to note the conversations that have taken place as people have sought to understand where people are ‘coming from’. “It’s not my tradition,” says one. “My choice of clerical shirt is black or… black. I can’t ‘do’ colour,” says another. “So do you use incense?” asks someone else, and it is not certain whether the question is being asked from someone of one denomination to another, or someone who is High Church in the Church of England (‘up the candle’) to someone who is Low Church (“I call it a [holy] table, not an altar”).

At its best, this kind of questioning can lead to interesting conversations of mutual discovery which open the mind and heart of one Christian to another. At its worst, this kind of questioning is a means of pigeon-holing others and seizing yet another opportunity to take the spiritual high-ground that ‘my church’s way is better than yours (and everyone else’s) and so are our prayers, thoughts, teachings and practices'. Alas, the history of the Church of God is littered with the outcomes of this way of thinking – schisms, excommunications, martyrdoms, murders, lies and deceit – all of which are a far cry from the prayer of Jesus to God, “Father, may they all be one.”

Before you mistake my intent, I am not of the mind that says we should all sing/say/pray the same thing at the same time in the same way. Prayer that glorifies God and seeks God’s will and God’s way is worthy of acceptance and encouragement by all. Worship that gives honour to God and reveals the truth that Jesus is Lord is worthy of acceptance and encouragement by all. What I hope for is a time when the worship offered by others or by me will be seen as valid and acceptable (note, not ‘valid’ and ‘acceptable’) by others, whatever their denominational or churchmanship affiliation and preference. Attacking me because you do not agree with me is not the way to proceed. Accusing me of preaching a false gospel (of which I was accused in Jerusalem because I said that God will be the one who judges as to who will be close to God in heaven and who will not) is not the way to proceed. If anyone claims to be a follower of Christ, let them first pray together, worship together and seek salvation together. Let them learn together as to how the Holy Spirit moves and challenges them to grow, develop and be corrected in faith. And let each of these be done kindly and in love. 1 Corinthians 13 is a wonderful treatise on just what this journey Christians make together should look like. Much loved for Weddings, this passage finds its locus in a letter to the people of Corinth who were having a challenging time being people of faith together. Many Christians in our current age would do well to read it and attend to its expression of truth, me included. Faith, hope and love [charity in older translations] abide, and the greatest of these is love. It is a genuinely wise soul that lives this.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹ For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; ¹⁰ but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³ And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

It's been a 'Wow!' kind of day

Wow!

Today I stood in the river where the first baptism in Europe took place. (Yes, I know it was all Holy Roman Empire then… but it is still amazing!) The wonderful Lydia of Thyatira, for whom I have a real sense of admiration, came to know of Christ and was baptised just outside Philippi, and we visited the area where her baptism took place this morning – along with Philippi itself.

The river was very fast-flowing today – a sign of the water running off the surrounding snow-capped hills and mountains, I guess. I can vouch that it was also quite chilly (although not as chilly as I expected it to be). Yes, I did indeed put my feet into the water! I didn’t wear my sandals especially in order to be able to take them off and stand on the steps into the river, but wearing them meant it was a whole lot easier to do so. I was the only one, sad to say – but it has been a rather cool and grey day for the most part, and everyone else is obviously rather more sensible!

 

The church that stands close by the river is quite lovely. Built in an octagonal shape (which, apparently, means that it is built to mark something significant having happened on a particular site), it is a feels quite modern – and the mosaics on the walls are quite lovely. Central to the building is the baptistry which is full to bursting when a child is brought for baptism. The iconostasis is rather smaller than some I have seen on my travels in recent months, and it is certainly a lot smaller than the ones of both the Church of St Nicholas in the middle of Kavala and the Church of St Mary that stands in the middle of the Old Town.

We learned here that the colour ‘we’ think of as royal purple is apparently quite incorrect as the colour Lydia produced was rather more red in tone. Thus it is that icons of Lydia, as well as those of the Virgin Mary, portray them in what appears to us as red.

 

 

The remains of the City of Philippi stand close by and, just as it is when journeying through the Holy Land and Turkey, so it is here – the sense of wonder at following in the steps of the Disciples and Apostles. How wonderful to be journeying through the same countryside, viewing the same hills, rivers and seas, worshipping the same God, praying and praising in words that they used – passed on by those who had known Jesus or heard of him directly from those who knew him. And then there is Paul and his companions – Roman Citizens who travelled freely through this land, unless sent on their way by those who would not hear the Word of God that was being shared with them. At Philippi, Paul was imprisoned and we saw the place that Tradition reputes to be the jail.

The remains of the city are relatively extensive, to include a Theatre, two Basilica, the Agora, a Business area, as well as an area that served as a sort of ‘Bishop’s Palace’. Here there are lovely floor mosaics that remain, as well the toilets for the Bishops and their guests!

Back in Kavala (Biblical Neapolis) a scoot around the town revealed the wonderful mosaic monument that marks where Paul took his first steps on land here, which stands next to the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas.

 

Heading up onto the peninsula, one passes the very fine remains of the aqueduct, as well as the Castle high on up the hill. A Mosque has been built on the remains of a Basilica, with the foundations of the Church sensitively laid open for visitors to see. Further on lies another Church – with the most wonderful candelabra and silver-enhanced icons. A service was taking place here, with the wonderful Orthodox chanting that is so deep and resonant. The congregation was hidden behind a curtain so we didn’t go in, but simply remained in the body of the church, listening and praying, whilst taking in the beauty around us.

It is such a ‘Wow!’ feeling to be here in this land. Not only to be here journeying through the same countryside, viewing the same hills, rivers and seas, worshipping the same God, praying and praising in words that they used but also to have an increased sense of awe for the amazing determination of these men. The distances they travelled, the means by which the travelled – countless miles of land and sea – all to share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. I come as a pilgrim, to see where they travelled and through this I am encouraged in my faith (and challenged too). Paul and the other Apostles came not to follow anyone else’s footsteps, nor to see where other heroines and heroes of faith had been before them. They came to blaze the trail, as well as send the Gospel message even farther afield. How amazing to be here and to visit places of which I have only read before. Wow!