And to that Kingdom we belong, together with the rest of the blessed company of all faithful people who own him as their King.  Among our first duties as members of his Kingdom is that of personal and corporate loyalty to him.  That loyalty is pledged Sunday by Sunday at the altar in the Eucharist.  It is demonstrated both in the wider Church and in the world by contending “…for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (RSV, Jude 3) – delivered by the Lord to the Apostles.

That Faith, as we are well aware, is under attack today, partly from outside the Church but also from within it.  And we have our role to play in seeing that the Faith is preserved and passed on intact to the next generation.  It is a task which Christ’s faithful followers in every age have shouldered, always willingly and often heroically, and it is through their efforts that the Faith has come down to us today.