It was probably in the spring of the year 30 AD that Jesus was crucified, and three days later he was raised for the dead.  Seven weeks after that there came the first Pentecost (Whitsunday), when God the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles and the Christian Church was formed and has continued to grow ever since to this day.  That is why Pentecost is sometimes called the Birthday of the Church.

Perhaps when we read or hear about what happened on the first Pentecost and remember that it is now well over nineteen hundred years ago, it all seems far, far away in the distant past.

Churches in Britain

But if we think for a moment we shall see that it is not really so long ago as it might seem, because those centuries can very largely be spanned by the parish churches of England.  Some of our parish churches are quite new, as for example in the modern housing estates, but you will usually find in the neighbourhood the old parish church which was standing there when the housing estate was just green fields.  The date of our parish church is …. There are many churches, especially in the villages, which were built in the 13th century, that is, some seven hundred years ago, and they were by no means the oldest as we shall see.

In Northamptonshire there is a church at Earls Barton with a famous Saxon tower, 68 feet high. (1) This dates back to about the year 970 AD, and the tower was probably built as a watch-tower against the Danes.  It stands in the valley of the River Nene up which the invading Danes came from the east.  So with Earls Barton Church, built well over a thousand years ago, we have already more than halved the distance in time between today and the first Pentecost.

Also in Northamptonshire is another well known church, that at Brixworth. (2) Brixworth church was built about the year 680 AD.

Even older is the Church of St Martin at Canterbury. (3)  The Venerable Bede said that it was built during the Roman occupation of Britain, but whether this is so is not definitely known.  What we do know is this.  When St Augustine landed on the shores of Kent in the year 597 AD, St Martin’s Church was already being used as a royal chapel by Queen Bertha, the Christian wife of Ethelbert, the heathen King of Kent.  But he did not remain a heathen for long, for that same summer he was baptised by St Augustine in the Church of St Martin at Pentecost (Whitsunday).

Between 314 and 360 AD private Christian chapels were built, for example at Lullingstone Roman Villa in Kent, and a church may have been built at Silchester.

St Alban, the first martyr in Britain

The Roman legions left this island in the year 401 AD, but long before that Britain had already had her first martyr.  This was St Alban, a Roman soldier who was beheaded for the Faith at the Roman town of Verulamium, which is today called St Albans in his memory.  The date of his martyrdom was once believed to be 304 AD, but now it is thought to be earlier, round about 250 AD according to the Common Worship Lectionary. (4)

So you can see that we have now gone back more than 1,700 years, but we know that the Christian Faith must have already been planted here some years before the martyrdom of St Alban.

St Irenaeus, St Polycarp and St John

Let’s go back further still to the year 202 AD which was when the Bishop of Lyons in France died as a martyr.  His name was Irenaeus and he had been taught the Faith by Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna.  And Polycarp in his turn had been taught it by St John the Apostle himself, who had received the Holy Spirit with the rest of the Apostles on the first Pentecost; who found Our Lord’s empty tomb on Easter Day; and who stood with Our Lady at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday.  So you see that these three alone, St John, St Polycarp and St Irenaeus, take us from 30 AD to 202 AD, at which time it is quite likely that the first Christians were arriving in Britain. 

I am with you always

But though the first Easter and the first Pentecost may seem at times far distant, Our Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit are not far distant.  Before Jesus returned to Heaven at his Ascension, he said to the Apostles, “And remember, I am with you always…” (NRSV, Matthew 28:20).  And that same Jesus, who was crucified and was raised from the dead, is the living Lord of the present who is with us now, and especially in the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and for ever.  And the Holy Spirit, whom he gave to the Apostles and to the Church on the first Pentecost, he still gives to us through his Church today.  For at every Baptism and Confirmation, God the Holy Spirit comes into our souls as surely as he came to the souls of the Apostles and the first Christians.  That is why the Church, though old, is always new, for Jesus and the Holy Spirit are given anew to her members in every generation.

SUMMARY

1. The first Pentecost may seem a long time ago but it is not so far distant when we look at the early history of the Christian church and the age of some of our oldest churches.

2. That same Jesus, who was crucified and was raised from the dead, is the living Lord of the present who is with us now, and especially in the Blessed Sacrament.

3. At every Baptism and Confirmation, God the Holy Spirit comes into our souls as surely as he came to the souls of the Apostles and the first Christians. 

References

1. Northants County Guides (not dated) Earls Barton. Photograph of church available from:
http://www.northamptonshire.co.uk/guides/earlsbarton/  (Accessed 25 August 2010) (Internet).

2. Friends of All Saints Church Brixworth (2007) Photograph of church available from:
http://www.friendsofbrixworthchurch.org.uk/ (Accessed 25 August 2010) (Internet).

3. Church website: http://www.martinpaul.org/stmartin.html (Accessed 26 May 2014) (Internet).

4. Church of England (2010) The lectionary.  CW and BCP, London: SPCK.