These weekly “People to Commemorate” posts are a kind of calendar for the commemoration of the saints, reproduced here from a Uniting Church Assembly document which can be found in full here. They are intended for copying and pasting into congregational pew sheets on the Sunday closest to the nominated date.

Images (where provided) are of icons by Peter Blackwood; click on the image to download a high resolution copy of the image.

Mechtild of Magdeburg, person of prayer

Mechtild was a celebrated medieval mystic, however not a lot is known about her. What we do know comes largely from hints she gives in her written work. She was born in a noble Saxon family about 1210.

Mechtild’s century, the 13th, was the golden age of chivalry. Troubadours sang of romance between lords and ladies. It was also a golden age of saints, including Francis, Clare, Dominic, and Gertrude. Mechtild takes her place among them as a mystic and poet. She was a troubadour of the love that binds the soul to God.

At 23, Mechtild moved from her village to Magdeburg, Thuringia, in central Europe. She lived there many years as a Béguine and later became a Dominican tertiary. Béguines were women without religious vows who formed communities to serve the poor. Mechtild exhausted herself with austerities because she believed she had to conquer herself in order to achieve oneness with God. Later she wrote this beautiful dialogue between God and the soul about curbing desires and orienting them to God:

God: You hunt ardently for your love, What do you bring to me, my Queen?
Soul: Lord! I bring you my treasure; It is greater than the mountains, . . .
          More glorious than the sun, More manifold than the stars,
          It outweighs the whole earth!
God: O image of my Divine Godhead, . . . What is your treasure called?
Soul: Lord! it is called my heart’s desire! I have withdrawn it from the
          world, . .
          Where, O Lord, shall I lay it?
God: Your heart’s desire shall you lay nowhere, but in my own divine heart
          and on my human breast. There alone you will find comfort and be
          embraced by my Spirit.

It was her Dominican confessor, Henry of Halle, who encouraged and helped Mechtild to compose The Flowing Light.

Her criticism of church dignitaries, religious laxity as well as her claims to theological insight aroused so much opposition that some called for the burning of her writings. With advancing age, she was not only alone, and the object of much criticism but she also became blind. Around 1272, she joined the Cistercian nunnery at Helfta, who offered her protection and support in the final years of her life, and where she finished writing down the contents of the many divine revelations, she claimed to have experienced. It says much of this community and its Abbess Gertrude, that they would embrace a woman who was over 60 years of age, in poor health and so isolated by society. It is unclear whether she formally joined the Cistercian community or if she simply resided there and participated in the religious services but did not take Cistercian vows.

It is unclear when Mechtild died. 1282 is a commonly cited date, but some scholars believe she lived into the 1290s.

 Written by Peter Gador-Whyte 

These weekly “People to Commemorate” posts are a kind of calendar for the commemoration of the saints, reproduced here from a Uniting Church Assembly document which can be found in full here. They are intended for copying and pasting into congregational pew sheets on the Sunday closest to the nominated date.

Images (where provided) are of icons by Peter Blackwood; click on the image to download a high resolution copy of the image.

Soren Kierkegaard, Christian thinker

Kierkegaard was at once a devastating critic and a passionate advocate of Christianity. He was a 19^th century Danish thinker, who wrote many books – often with very strange titles – in his own distinctive style and who continues to pose challenging questions to Christians today. Because of his intense focus on the individual person, he is often regarded as the ‘father’ of modern existentialism.

Born in 1813, he felt deeply the death of his mother, three siblings and his father within a short span of years. He felt that there was a curse on his family on account of a great ‘sin’ committed by his father. He felt a misfit in the society of his day and is often called ‘the melancholy Dane’. He broke off an engagement because he would not involve his fiancée in his unusual life and on his death-bed he would not receive holy Communion from a (Lutheran) pastor, ‘the king’s official’.

Kierkegaard was fiercely critical of the way Christianity was practised in Denmark, where the Lutheran church was the state church. ‘Even the cows in Denmark are Christian!’ He could not bear to think that people might live in the illusion of being Christian when they merely ‘played’ at Christianity. What matters is actually to be a Christian; it is not a system of thought simply to be given intellectual assent.

Kierkegaard attacked the very idea of explaining Christianity. He vigorously opposed the philo­sophical system of Hegel, both for its grand metaphysical systematising and for offering an explanation of Christianity at a higher level. Kierkegaard’s writing was a loud protest against this in the name of concrete existence; this made him one of the fore-runners of existentialism. Being based on the ‘Absolute Paradox’ (that God became human), Christianity is not to be explained. A person responds to it in faith and trust, staking one’s whole life on it, like ‘swimming in 20,000 fathoms of water’; not by intellectualising it and trying to prove its truth.

Kierkegaard never fails to challenge, even if he is sometimes shockingly over-stated. His style is deeply ironic, often caustic. If he were writing today, he might have said that faith is like bungy-jumping. This doesn’t say everything to be said about faith, but it does identify something essential to it.

Christiaan Mostert

These weekly “People to Commemorate” posts are a kind of calendar for the commemoration of the saints, reproduced here from a Uniting Church Assembly document which can be found in full here. They are intended for copying and pasting into congregational pew sheets on the Sunday closest to the nominated date.

Images (where provided) are of icons by Peter Blackwood; click on the image to download a high resolution copy of the image.

Luke, witness to Jesus

Luke (‘the beloved physician’)
(Greek: Loukas = luminous, white)

The name Luke occurs only three times in our New Testament (Philemon 24, ‘. . . Demas and Luke, my fellow workers’; Col 4:14, ‘Luke the beloved physician’; and 2 Timothy 4:11, ‘Only Luke is with me’), but authorship of the third gospel (and by association, The Acts of the Apostles) is also attributed to him from early times. Part of the evidence for this claim comes from the ‘we’ passages in Acts 16:20-21 and 27 onwards, describing sea voyages with Paul, where it seems that the author himself suddenly joins the story in Troas. Luke remains with Paul until the end (Acts 28:16 and 2 Timothy 4:11), though he refrains from telling us the sad story of Paul’s death.

Further evidence in support of these connections is given in the Anti-Marcionite Prologue to the Gospel of Luke, containing the following Greek section that may date as early as the second century:

Luke: a native of Antioch, by profession a physician. He had become a disciple of the apostle Paul and later followed Paul until his (Paul’s) martyrdom. Having served the Lord continuously, unmarried and without children, filled with the Holy Spirit, he died at the age of 84 years in Boeotia (Greece).

It was Luke’s genius that set the story of Jesus in the wider world of the Roman Empire (Luke 2:1; 3:1) and then continued it into the story of the earliest followers (Acts). He did this in sensitive continuity with the Jewish traditions, yet in a way that rehabilitated Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, as the great missionary who took the Gospel beyond the boundaries of Judea.

We owe to Luke’s research and 2-volume narrative the conceptual and chronological framework for our understanding of the events following Jesus’ death: from Passover to Pentecost, from First Fruits to the full harvest. We also are indebted to Luke’s honesty for our awareness of the considerable tensions between the earliest communities of Jesus-followers (Acts 6:15; and 21, for example), and for his vibrant portrayal of the movement of God’s Spirit amongst diverse ethnic groups — a movement which the Apostles sometimes struggled to comprehend and affirm.

Traditionally, Luke has been the patron saint of artists, physicians, students, teachers and butchers (Feast Day, October 18). Given the particular emphasis of the Lukan tradition, we might also suggest he should be seen today as patron saint of single people, the childless, researchers, historians, and of multi-ethnic communities.

Contributed by Keith Dyer

These weekly “People to Commemorate” posts are a kind of calendar for the commemoration of the saints, reproduced here from a Uniting Church Assembly document which can be found in full here. They are intended for copying and pasting into congregational pew sheets on the Sunday closest to the nominated date.

Images (where provided) are of icons by Peter Blackwood; click on the image to download a high resolution copy of the image.

Ulrich Zwingli, reformer of the Church

His father was a respected farmer in Wildhaus, St. Gallen. Two brothers became priests and two sisters nuns. Little is known of his early years but he studied in Basel (1494), Bern (1496-98); Vienna (1498-1502). He gained his MA in 1506. Widely read in the Fathers and current humanism, he was deeply attracted by Erasmus and his scholarship. Ordained in 1506, he became parish priest in Glarus till 1516, taking time out in 1513 and 1515 to be a military chaplain. That experience left him strongly opposed to mercenary service. His next position was at the Benedictine Abbey at Einsiedeln, where he did further study of Greek, using Erasmus’ New Testament and further consolidated his reputation as a fine preacher.

That led in 1518 to an invitation to be people’s priest in the Old Minster in Zurich. Beginning on New Year’s Day, 1519, he undertook to preach through biblical books, instead of confining himself to the readings of the lectionary. At this stage, he had no commitment to reform, but a near-death experience from plague in 1519 altered his priorities, both in his personal life and in his ministry. In 1522, he began to live with Anna Reinhart, a widow, while at the same time criticising abuses in the Zurich churches and community.

His critique of fasting led to disregard of these rules.

The Bishop of Constance was concerned at this breach. Disputations on the matter in January and November, 1523 aroused intense interest and led to the civic authorities removing the Minster from the bishop’s jurisdiction and supporting some of Zwingli’s suggestions for change.

Images, pictures and organs were removed, the Mass was simplified and Zwingli established a combined school and seminary. Religious houses were sold and the proceeds used to set up a welfare fund. A marriage tribunal took over the role of the bishop’s court. Zwingli married his de facto wife in April, 1524.

By 1525, sharp differences were emerging about reform. Some clergy believed that Zwingli was too cautious. They set up fellowships outside parish structures and began re-baptising adults who confessed their faith. Zwingli rejected their views on pure churches and underlined the partnership of Council and Church. Some dissenters were exiled. Others were drowned as a punishment. Such were beginnings of the radical reformation.

Zwingli believed that reforming centres should form political alliances. A conference was held in Marburg in 1529 to this end. Much agreement was achieved, but Luther and Zwingli disagreed about the real presence in the Mass. Zwingli sent a version of his beliefs to the meeting in Augsburg in 1530, hoping that a coalition could be created against the Habsburgs. That was not successful. It was not even possible to achieve a union of Swiss cantons. Attempts to preach reform in the Forest cantons led to civil war and Zwingli’s death at the second Battle of Kappel in November, 1531. Catholicism was allowed back into Zurich.

Zwingli did not establish an international reform movement, but his teaching on God’s sovereignty and covenant, the sacraments and church-state relations brought Word and Spirit together in a vital partnership, which was influential in parts of Germany and the British Isles.

 G.W. Locher, Zwingli’s Thought, 1981; W.P. Stephens, Theology of Huldrych Zwingli, 1986

by Rev Dr Ian Breward

These weekly “People to Commemorate” posts are a kind of calendar for the commemoration of the saints, reproduced here from a Uniting Church Assembly document which can be found in full here. They are intended for copying and pasting into congregational pew sheets on the Sunday closest to the nominated date.

Images (where provided) are of icons by Peter Blackwood; click on the image to download a high resolution copy of the image.

Seluvaia Ma’u, martyr

The Methodist Church in Tonga first sent Missionaries to their South Pacific neighbours in Samoa in 1835. When the church called for Missionaries to go to Papua New Guinea, Siosaia Lavaka Ma’u from Ha’akio, Vava’u, Tonga and his wife Seluvaia were among the first four to offer to take the Gospel to Papua in 1891. They were sent to work at a place called Genaia, north of Dobu.

Siosaia and Seluvaia were students at Tupou College, the first Secondary School in the South Pacific, founded by Dr. James Egan Moulton. Both families were among those who were persecuted for supporting Wesleyans who remained loyal to the Church in Australia.

They faced many hardships at Genaia, because they were a long way from the towns, but the hardest of all for Siosaia was when his beloved wife and unborn child were murdered. His forgiving spirit is evident as he told the story in a letter to the Overseas Secretary Dr. Brown on the 26^th October 1896:

“I write this letter with loving greetings to you and your wife. All our workers are well and even though I have been struck with a cruel blow, my sorrow is mixed with happiness because I know for sure that Seluvaia is in Heaven.”

Siosaia was asked to to go Samarai to mend the Church’s boat, and to wait for the steamer which brought their supplies. When he returned he found Seluvaia with horrific injuries, and as a result she had lost their unborn child. These things happened early Sunday morning 4 October.

She was able to speak a few words to her husband. “I should have died but I pleaded with the Lord to keep me alive so that the little girl I was holding would be spared. (‘Ana was their adopted daughter) I stayed alive but I fainted from my injuries”. He asked her if she wanted him to tell of these things that had happened and she said, “Yes, give my love to the church. Tell them I send much love and I have peace in my soul”.

Siosaia wrote to the overseas Secretary Dr. Brown passing on Seluvaia’s love. He said she died peacefully and as he watched he knew that she was at peace and happy to leave this world.

When the judge asked the man who did this why he did it, he said that the police had taken his wife from the island of Nivani. He made up his mind to go to Panaieti and kill the missionary’s wife, because she was a foreigner the same as the policeman.

Siosaia said he did not understand the man’s reasoning, because the police did not visit them in their home. What he knew was that the man was afraid to go and look for the police and because he knew that Siosaia was away from home, he decided to murder dear Seluvaia.

“I am not complaining because I know that many have travelled this path to eternal life, to be martyred for the Gospel. Yes, nothing will separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord“, said Siosaia in his letter to Dr. Brown.

On her simple grave read these words:

HERE LIES SELUVAIA, WHO WAS MARTYRED FOR THE GOSPEL

Rev. ‘Isikeli Hau’ofa (Missionary to Papua 1937-1970) visited Seluvaia’s grave in 1970. He spoke to a man who was the son of the lady who was with Seluvaia. He was still young at the time but he remembered witnessing the event. This is what he said:

“When Tonkomkom (the man who attacked Seluvaia) reached the house of the missionary, Seluvaia came out holding her adopted daughter. Tonkomkom used a club to hit Seluvaia on the back of her neck and body, and when she realized that he intended to kill her and the child, she tried to shield the child and bear the blows herself. The village people rushed to her aid and took the child from her and vowed to take revenge but Seluvaia said, “Do no such thing. This is the way for me to reach the Kingdom, and this is the reason I came here.”

Missionary’s wife Mrs. Bartholomew described Seluvaia as a beautiful person, always with a smile who captivated everyone who met her. She was a true servant of Christ, and she was a fine example of humility in the midst of the heathen people. Her home was always spotless and the women of the village were always welcome. They came to watch her sew and weave and she took this opportunity to talk to them about the Gospel. The story of Seluvaia and her courage is well known in the history of the Papuan church, and because of her death, many souls accepted the Gospel.

Written by Rev. Siupeli Taliai whose grandfather, Henry Taliai Lavaka Ma’u, was the younger brother of Rev. Siosaia Lavaka Ma’u.