St. Alban was the first martyr of England. During a persecution of the Christians, Alban, although a pagan, hid a priest in his home. The priest made such a great impression on him that Alban received instructions and was baptised a Christian himself. In the meantime, the governor had been told that the priest was hiding with Alban, and he sent his soldiers to capture him. But Alban changed clothes with his guest, and gave himself up in his stead. The judge was furious when he found out that the priest had escaped and he said to Alban, “You shall get the punishment he was to get unless you worship the pagan gods.” The Saint answered that he would never worship those false gods again. “To what family do you belong?” demanded the judge. “That does not concern you,” said Alban. “If you want to know my religion, I am a Christian.” Angrily the judge commanded him again to sacrifice to the gods at once. “Your sacrifices are offered to devils,” answered Alban. “They cannot help you or answer your requests. The reward for such sacrifices is the everlasting punishment of Hell.”  Since he was getting nowhere, the judge had Alban whipped. Then he commanded that he be beheaded. On the way to the place of execution, the soldier who was to kill Alban was converted himself, and he too, became a martyr.

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Quite a busy time around The Presbytery this week as Fr D had several meetings that were not Parish based . . . . . Last Saturday morning Fr D had the final session before Communion Day with the parents and candidates on the First Eucharist Programme this year. This ‘slice of the cake’ was the penultimate one and covered the actual Communion Rite at Mass (how to receive Holy Communion). This Saturday the participants will practice receiving Holy Communion and ‘walk through’ what will be happening on Sunday when they celebrate their First Eucharist. After the 11.00 Mass on Sunday Fr D celebrated the Baptism of a young parishioner whose parents had been preparing for the sacrament over the past couple of months. On Monday Fr D was quickly off to Worthing where he was meeting with his Ministry to Priest’s Support Group. Being his old parish he was ‘spotted’ by some of his former parishioners and it took a little while to get from the car park into the church for their hour before the Blessed Sacrament! After celebrating Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday, Fr D picked up Fr Tony and headed off to Ewell where there was a Deanery Clergy Meeting that had been arranged outside of the normal pattern whilst Fr D was away last month at the Canon Law Conference (Deanery Clergy Meetings usually only take place between October and May!). The ‘cause’ for the meeting was a push by the diocese to move forward with the coming together of all the deanery parishes as one single parish, according to the bishop’s plan. The local clergy were all unanimous that we are not yet ready to move forward with this at this point in time and that things have to be done at our local speed not an external timetable. This decision will be taken back to the bishop at the next Council of Priest’s Meeting.  In the evening on Tuesday Fr D met with those younger members of our Parish who recently celebrated their confirmation by Bishop Richard down in Arundel Cathedral. This was the last formal meeting of this year’s preparation course and looked at how the Confirmation Service went and into the future as they start life as fully adult members of the Church. The youngsters will be helping at the First Eucharist celebration this weekend and will receive their Certificates of Confirmation along with our First Communicants on Sunday 29th June (09.00) . . . . . .

In the Christian tradition, we don’t often reflect on passages in scripture that personify a female element of the divine. Today’s reading from the Book of Proverbs does just that. This passage would have been well known to Jesus and his fellow Jews, as well as to the New Testament writers. Those authors sometimes drew direct and other times subtle connections be tween the central figure in the Proverbs reading, Lady Wisdom, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The voice in the passage is Wisdom, often referred to as Lady Wisdom by scripture scholars. In the Old Testament, this Wisdom figure is always personified as a woman, just as references to God’s spirit (which God breathed into the first humans) are feminine. Lady Wisdom seems to originate within God, not as a creation of God. “The Lord possessed me … I was poured forth … I was brought forth.” Such a description is similar to the phrase in our creed that describes Jesus as “begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.” Lady Wisdom appears to be a co-worker with God in creation, a master craftsman (craftswoman!) reflecting herself in all of creation. So who exactly is Lady Wisdom? Is she equivalent to Jesus? John suggests this parallel in the first verses of his Gospel. At times Paul equates the two as well. “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24). Or is Lady Wisdom the Holy Spirit because references to God’s spirit in the Hebrew Bible are feminine? There is no right or wrong answer. The concept of the Trinity is a mystery far beyond what our limited minds can imagine. What is important is that we don’t fall into the trap of identifying God as a male or female, but as possessing attributes of both.  Ultimately, the concept of the Trinity remains a mystery for our limited human brains. How is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? How is God the creator, the redeemer, and the sanctifier? Where does Lady Wisdom enter all of this? Scripture writers, like us, falter at trying to describe the indescribable, which is why we have so many different and sometimes conflicting images and metaphors for God. Questions of the week • If you think of God as the Trinity, which “person” do you most identify with and why: Father/ Creator, Son, or Holy Spirit? • Does imagining God with a feminine aspect change how you think of God? Why or why not?