Berwick Thought for the Week: Saint Oswald helps us to relate in an even deeper way that promises hope for the future
Revd. Ray Simpson, Founding Guardian, the new monastic international Community of Aidan and Hilda (www.aidanandhilda.org.uk) has written the following message.
I have recently returned, along with others from the Borders, from a once-in-a lifetime cruise down the River Rhine from Basel to Cologne.
As I scoured statues and museums, I realised that Germany lacks a much-needed model of a ruler who embodies Christ-like qualities of selfless service. Or does it?
Oswald, who became the Christ-like king of our Kingdom of Northumbria in the seventh century, prayed daily, invited the Irish Mission which transformed his Saxon and Celtic peoples, gave money to the poor (the origin of our monarch’s Maundy Thursday money gifts), worked closely with his pioneer missionary Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne to convert his peoples to Christianity, set slaves free, fought bravely and turned enemies into friends.
After his death, a legendary ‘Life’ of Oswald caught the imagination of Germanic peoples, who built many churches dedicated to him. There are many such churches in Germany today.
Our royal families are closely related. Saint Oswald helps us to relate in an even deeper way that promises hope for the future.
Ray’s new book A Way of Life for the Third Millennium won an award at the recent Frankfurt Book Fair.