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.

James Egan Moulton, faithful servant

Viewed in the context of Tonga’s Christian history, Moulton is probably the most influential European missionary to have served there. He was born in 1841 into a strong English Methodist family, one of four brothers all of whom were gifted and made great contributions to the fields of literature and education. A scholar in both Hebrew and Greek, James Egan offered for foreign missionary work. Arriving in Australia in 1863, Moulton was detained for two years in Sydney where he married and was appointed the founding headmaster of Newington College when it was situated in the colonial home at Silverwater formerly owned by the explorer Blaxland; for many years the institution served as both Methodist Theological College and boys’ school. 

Altogether Moulton spent almost 35 years in Tonga (1865-88 and 1895-1905). He made particularly significant contributions in education, biblical scholarship and translation work. In focussing on these areas, Moulton was not only engaging in his own interests but reflecting the deep educational concerns of Tonga’s high chief and first King, Taufa-ahau or Tupou I.  In 1866, Moulton was placed in charge of Tupou College (which opened that year and eventually became the most prestigious school in Tonga). An advanced and progressive curriculum was introduced which cemented educational achievement at the centre of Tongan life.  Moulton became an expert in the Tongan language. The historian of Tongan Methodism, Harold Wood, quotes R.G. Moulton (James Egan’s brother) as saying that J.E.M. turned raw Tongan into poetry through his translation of the Bible. He also supplied Tongan Methodism with beautiful vernacular hymns and manufactured a special tonic sol-fa which is still used today by Tongan choirs. In 1899 Moulton was honoured for his academic endeavours with an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Victoria University, Toronto.

Moulton has given Tonga a unique national motto. Observing the generally flat profile of the Tongan islands, Moulton said that “the mountain of Tonga is the mind”. It was largely due to his efforts that the Tongan church placed a great emphasis on the education of their lay people so that today, in Tonga and among the Tongan diaspora of Australia, there is a high value placed on biblical literacy and on the status of lay preacher.

by Dr Andrew Thornley

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.

 

Charles Harris, faithful servant

Charles Enoch Edward Harris (1931–1993) was a cane cutter, railway worker, Assembly of God evangelist, Methodist and Uniting Church minister, and the Founding President of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. Harris was born on 8 July 1931 into a Christian family in Ingham, north Queensland. After a self-confessed ‘wild’ youth and various labouring jobs, Harris joined the Assemblies of God and became involved in youth work at Ayr. He later trained at the Commonwealth Bible College (Assemblies of God) from 1957 to 1959 and then took on several non-stipendiary pastorates with the Assemblies of God.

In 1966 Harris joined the Ingham Methodist Church and the following year he was appointed pastor to the newly established ‘Mission to Aborigines and Islanders in North Queensland’ in the Hermit Park Circuit in Townsville. Under testing circumstances Harris persisted for five years in this ‘evangelical and caring ministry’, visiting prisons, conducting missions, and caring for Townsville’s displaced and homeless ‘bridge people’.

Harris became a staff member of Central Methodist Mission in Brisbane in 1973, where he was introduced to the world of Aboriginal struggle for justice. Harris was ordained on 27 November 1980 in Brisbane, the first Aboriginal and Islander Minister to be ordained by the Uniting Church in Queensland.

Of the many achievements in Harris’ ministry two stand out above the rest. The first is the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress; it was his vision and energy that would eventually lead to the formation of Congress at Elcho Island in August 1983.  The second is the March for Justice, Freedom and Hope. It was Harris who was the driving force behind the idea of the March held on the streets of Sydney on 26 January 1988, the largest gathering of Indigenous people ever in Australia and arguably the centrepiece of Aboriginal protest during the bicentennial year. The March propelled Charles Harris into the national and international spotlight and promoted the fledgling Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress as one of the leading Aboriginal and Islander organisations in the country. Throughout the planning of the March Harris grew as a national leader and a symbol of what Aboriginal and Islander people could do together in their common struggle. Sir Ronald Wilson remarked on the occasion of Harris’s retirement: ‘The emergence of the Congress as perhaps the leading Aboriginal organisation in the country, the growing maturity of its leadership, and its finest hour—the Bicentenary March for freedom, Justice and Hope will stand as lasting monuments to Charles’ vision as president, his determination and keen sense of justice.’ Towards the end of Harris’ life, he became progressively more radical, seizing every opportunity to speak out against injustice and the church’s and governments’ role in perpetuating injustice.

Charles Harris died on 7 May 1993.

Contributed by William W. Emilsen (alt)

Edited down to a single page; see Commemorations document (see above) for the full text

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.

 

Catherine of Siena, faithful servant

Born Caterina Benincasa, Catherine of Siena (?1347-1380) is remembered for her peacemaking efforts, and for the hundreds of letters and prayers she left behind. She was born into a family of 25 children in Siena, Italy. It is reported that from an early age she began seeing visions, and devoted her time to conversation with God, leading the life of an ascetic. Her long hours of prayer and self-mortification brought her into conflict with her family, and at the age of 16 they permitted her to join the Dominican Order of Penance. She lived a further three years at home (the chronology of this is confused), and then later began to pursue work in the public domain, tending for the poor and the sick, and teaching. She travelled widely, defying suggestions that women should not do so, preaching and mediating disputes—including the conflict between Florence and the Holy See, for example. Her involvement in both spiritual and political events suggests she viewed the two as intimately connected, and equally a part of her service to God.

On her travels Catherine was often accompanied by an entourage of followers—clergy and lay people, men and women—who were attracted by her piety, spiritual wisdom, and engaging personality.

As her following and influence grew, so did Catherine’s ability to help resolve conflicts, and she was instrumental in persuading Pope Gregory XI, with whom she corresponded extensively, to take the Papacy from Avignon in France back to Rome in 1377. (The previous seven popes had held the papal court at Avignon, but there was widespread concern that it should return to Italy.)

Catherine’s writings reflect a boldness and directness that grew from her deep spirituality; qualities that made serious consideration of her counsel unavoidable. This is evident, for example, when she advised Gregory:  “Even if you have not been very faithful in the past, begin now to follow Christ, whose vicar you are, in real earnest. And do not be afraid . . . Attend to things spiritual, appointing good shepherds and good rulers in the cities under your jurisdiction . . .” And then, expressing a sentiment that might be questioned today,  “Above all, delay no longer in returning to Rome and proclaiming the Crusade”.

And all of this in the 33 years of her short life. In 1461, Catherine of Siena was canonized, and in 1970 was made a Doctor of the Church.

by Dr Bethany Butler

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.

 

Mark the Evangelist, Witness to Jesus

(Evangelist, martyr, and first ‘Bishop of Alexandria’; Greek: Markos = polite, shining)

Almost all the early traditions assume that St Mark, author of the Gospel that bears his name, is also John Mark of Jerusalem and Mark the cousin of Barnabas — the occasional missionary companion of Barnabas and Paul (and perhaps also of Peter, according to Papias and Eusebius). Hippolytus of Rome’s list of the 70 disciples sent out by Jesus (Lk 10:1) includes these three Marks separately, but other early writers have them as the same person, who was perhaps born in Cyrene (in today’s Libya) before moving to Jerusalem (Acts 12:12).

The Gospel of Mark, thought by most scholars to be the earliest written account of Jesus still surviving, is a vivid, fast-moving account, often told in the present tense — although this is not reflected in our English translations. Mark is said to have compiled it out of the sermons and teaching of Peter, though he may also have been a participant in the Jerusalem events. Some have claimed that he wrote himself into the Gospel story as the young man who fled naked at Jesus’ arrest (Mk 14:51-2). If that is so, he may have performed another disappearing act when he left Barnabas and Paul in the lurch and headed back to Jerusalem instead (Acts 12:25; 13:5, 13), leading to a ‘sharp disagreement’ between the two Apostles when he wanted to join them again on a later journey (Acts 15:36–41).

The mysterious disappearances of ‘Mark’ don’t end there, but continue through history. The Gospel of Mark seems to have been used by both Matthew and Luke as a template for their longer and more popular accounts of Jesus, but then faded from view. The first known commentary on Mark dates from the 6^th Century (very late compared with the other Gospels), and early manuscripts of the Gospel are rare — only three papyrus fragments survive. The earliest full copies of Mark end at chapter 16 verse 8, with excited women fleeing the empty tomb “for they were afraid” — and various longer endings were then added in later manuscripts to ‘correct’ what seemed to some to be the ‘disappearance’ of a proper conclusion to Mark’s account.

The body of Mark — and not just the text — also disappears! Strong early traditions suggest that Mark founded the church in Alexandria, Egypt, and was martyred there around 68CE, when he was dragged by the neck around the streets until he died. In 828 CE, Venetian merchants ‘body-snatched’ the remains of St Mark from Alexandria (some say they took Alexander the Great’s remains by mistake!), so they could be installed (eventually) in San Marco Cathedral in Venice. In the 11^th Century they disappeared yet again when the Cathedral was rebuilt, and then mysteriously they were rediscovered some years later.

Traditionally, St Mark is Patron Saint of Alexandria, Venice, and barristers, and is seen as the founder of Christianity in Africa (and particularly, the Coptic Church of Egypt).

We might also suggest — given his remarkable history — that St Mark be seen as Patron Saint of ‘the second chance’, the young and impetuous, story-tellers and authors writing their first book, streakers (Mk 14:51-2), and the ANZACs (the Feast Day of St Mark is April 25).

By Dr 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.

 

Kentigern, Christian pioneer

St. Kentigern was born about 518 in Culross, Fife, Scotland, to Thenaw, the daughter of a British prince, Lothus.  Kentigern, (the name means “head chief”) was popularly known as St. Mungo, meaning “dear one”.   He is believed to have been brought up by St. Servanus at a monastery in Fife. His father’s name is unknown.

At the age of 25, Kentigern began his missionary labours at Cathures, on the Clyde, the site of modern Glasgow.  He was welcomed there by Roderick Hael, the Christian King, and laboured in the district for some thirteen years.  He lived an austere life in a small cell where the Clyde and Molendinar rivers met.  By his teaching and example many people converted to the Christian faith. The large community that grew up around him became known as clasgu, meaning “dear family”.   The town and city ultimately grew to be known as modern Glasgow.

About 553 a strong anti-Christian movement in Strathclyde compelled Kentigern to leave the district.  He retired to Wales, and stayed with St. David at Menevia, later founding a large monastery in Llanelwy and serving as its first abbot.   In 573, accompanied by many of his Welsh disciples, he returned to Scotland at the request of the king, after a battle secured the Christian cause. For eight years he continued his evangelical outreach to the districts of Galloway and Cumberland.

Finally, in 581 Kentigern returned to Glasgow, where he remained until his death in 603, continuing his work amongst the people.

Several miracles were attributed to him including restoring life to a bird that had been inadvertently killed, the discovery inside a fish he caught of the missing ring of the Queen of Cadzow, and the rekindling of a fire that he had been tending, but which had gone out.  These events are commemorated in the Coat of Arms of the City of Glasgow.   The fourth symbol is a bell, believed to have been given to Kentigern by the Pope, Gregory I.

St. Kentigern is buried in Glasgow on the spot where a beautiful cathedral dedicated to his honour now stands.   He is remembered on 13 January each year, the anniversary of his death.  His humble life, lived in the service of God, affected the lives of many people, particularly in Wales, Galloway and Cumberland in Scotland, in parts of the northwest of England, and, of course, in Glasgow.  St. Kentigern is still remembered as a model of how we can make a difference in the lives of others.

Contributed by Sandra Batey

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.

 

Martin Luther King Jnr, martyr & social activist

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a product of southern black Baptist Protestantism in the United States. The son, grandson, and great-grandson of Baptist preachers, he was born in Atlanta, Georgia.  Driven by an “inner urge to serve God and humanity,” he accepted the call to ministry and was ordained at age nineteen. From that point, King committed himself to an active and well-rounded ministry, a ministry that was spiritually satisfying, intellectually sound, and socially relevant.

King’s exposure to a social gospel began at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, a congregation pastored by both his maternal grandfather, Adam D. Williams, and his father, Martin Luther King, Sr. While at Ebenezer, and later at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, King studied the gospels and the entire biblical revelation, and concluded that biblically and theologically inspired Christians had a responsibility to pursue freedom, peace, and justice in the social, political, and economic realms of society.

The lessons King learned at Ebenezer and Morehouse were reinforced and provided more of an intellectual structure during his years at Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University, where he immersed himself in the writings of the Social Gospel theologian Walter Rauschenbusch.  Rauschenbusch advocated redeeming individual and corporate life by applying the biblical principles of love and justice to the church, the family, the state, and other institutions, and King found here “a theological basis” for the social concern he had already embraced during his upbringing at Ebenezer Baptist Church and studies at Morehouse College.

King’s application of Social Gospel principles began with the Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama in 1955-56, his very first attempt at organized social protest.  In Montgomery, King combined the teachings of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount with the nonviolent methods of Mohandas K. Gandhi, thus forging both a personal ethic and a social ethic that would guide him throughout the thirteen years of his leadership in the struggle for civil and human rights.

After the successful outcome of the Montgomery bus protest, King led civil rights demonstrations throughout the American South, achieving varying degrees of success. His efforts led to the elimination of structures and patterns of racial segregation, and also the achievement of basic civil and/or constitutional rights for black people.

From 1965 to 1968, the last three years of his life, King consciously shifted his focus beyond basic civil and/or constitutional rights for blacks to issues of economic justice and international peace. He called for a radical redistribution of economic resources for the benefit of the poor in America and abroad, and for a world without war and the stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction.  At that point, King’s call for “a new South” and the fulfillment of “the American dream” had become thoroughly intertwined with his vision of “the great world house,” in which humans must learn to live together in peace and harmony despite differences in race, nationality, religion, and culture.

King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, while involved in a strike with sanitation workers.

Lewis V. Baldwin

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.

 

Maria Skobtsova, martyr

Maria Skobtsova was an Orthodox Christian nun in Paris in the early twentieth century. She encouraged hospitality and love of one’s neighbour, often in the most uncompromising of terms. She considered this to be the foundation of the Christian gospel, and she embodied it in her life. She is often compared to Dorothy Day, an American Roman Catholic who founded the Catholic Worker movement. Maria Skobtova died in Ravensbrück prison. She was glorified as a saint by the Orthodox Church on January 16, 2004, along with her companions, the Orthodox Priest Dmitri Klepinin, her son George (Yuri) Skobtsov, and Elie Fondaminsky. They are commemorated on July 20 in the Orthodox Church.

Born to a well to do, upper-class family in 1891 in Latvia, she was given the name Elizaveta Pilenko. Her father died when she was a teenager, and she embraced atheism. In 1906 her mother took the family to St Petersburg, where she became involved in radical intellectual circles. In 1910 she married a Bolshevik by the name of Dimitri Kuzmin-Karaviev. During this period of her life she was actively involved in literary circles and wrote much poetry. Her first book, Scythian Shards, was a collection of poetry from this period. By 1913 her marriage to Dimitri had ended.

Through a look at the humanity of Jesus, “He also died. He sweated blood. They struck his face,” she began to be drawn back into Christianity. She moved, now with her daughter, Gaiana, to the south of Russia where her religious devotion increased.

In 1918, after the Bolshevik Revolution, she was elected deputy mayor of the town of Anapa in Southern Russia. When the White Army took control of Anapa, the mayor fled and she became mayor of the town. The White Army put her on trial for being a Bolshevik. However, the judge was a former teacher of hers, Daniel Skobtsov, and she was acquitted. Soon the two fell in love and were married.

Soon, the political tide was turning again. In order to avoid danger, Elizaveta, Daniel, Gaiana, and Elizaveta’s mother Sophia fled the country. Elizaveta was pregnant with her second child. They travelled first to Georgia (where her son Yuri was born) and then to Yugoslavia (where her daughter Anastasia was born). Finally they arrived in Paris in 1923. Soon Elizaveta was dedicating herself to theological studies and social work.

In 1926, Anastasia died of influenza, a heartbreaking event for the family. Gaiana was sent away to Belgium to boarding school. Soon, Daniel and Elizaveta’s marriage was falling apart. Yuri ended up living with Daniel, and Elizaveta moved into central Paris to work more directly with those who were most in need.

Her bishop encouraged her to take vows as a nun, something she did only with the assurance that she would not have to live in a monastery, secluded from the world. In 1932, with Daniel Skobtov’s permission, an ecclesiastical divorce was granted and she took monastic vows. In monasticism she took the name Maria. Later, Fr Dmitri Klepinin would be sent to be the chaplain of the house.

Mother Maria made a rented house in Paris her “convent.” It was a place with an open door for refugees, the needy and the lonely. It also soon became a centre for intellectual and theological discussion. In Mother Maria these two elements, service to the poor and theology, went hand-in-hand.

When the Nazis took Paris in World War II, Jews soon approached the house asking for baptismal certificates, which Father Dimitri would provide them. Many Jews came to stay with them. They provided shelter and helped many escape. Eventually the house was closed down. Mother Maria, Fr Dimitri, Yuri, and Sophia were all taken by the Gestapo. Fr Dimitri and Yuri both died at the prison camp in Dora.

Mother Maria was sent to the camp in Ravensbrück, Germany. On Holy Saturday, the day before Easter in 1945, Mother Maria was taken to the gas chamber and entered eternal life. It is suggested that she took the place of another who had been selected for that death.

By Father Kyril

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.

Perpetua & Felicitas, martyrs

Few women have shaped the Christian spiritual tradition like the young North African martyr and visionary, Vibia Perpetua. She has inspired people of different centuries, countries, and cultures. Her story, told in The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, is a “dazzling text”, one of the most gripping accounts of martyrdom from the ancient church.Virtually from the moment of its writing in an early third-century Carthaginian prison, Perpetua’s story has played an important part in Christian spirituality. It is “timeless”, according to the medieval historian, Joyce Salisbury, meaning that it speaks to the human heart across the centuries, societies, and cultures.

An unknown figure first saw the potential of Perpetua’s story. He framed her story in such a way that succeeding generations of readers (or listeners) would treat it almost like Scripture. He saw in her visions a demonstration of the unceasing operation of the Holy Spirit and a witness for the glory of God and the good of the Church. The popularity of Perpetua and her companion Felicitas soon spread beyond the North African church. By the late fourth century their feast day was honoured in all the early calendars and martyrologies and their names were regularly remembered in Sunday worship.

By the early fifth century, Perpetua and Felicitas, were among the most venerated of African martyrs. Augustine loved these saints and drew inspiration from their life and witness. We know, for example, that Augustine preached at least three sermons in honour of Perpetua (after whom his sister was named). In Augustine’s first sermon he describes how upon hearing the story of the martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas read in church, the congregation joined in a “celebration of universal devotion”. In his second sermon, Augustine elevates the merits of Perpetua and Felicitas above all other martyrs. And in the third sermon, he names Perpetua and Felicitas as a model for all those who suffer for the faith.

The overwhelming reason for the popularity of Perpetua in recent times is her importance for women’s religion. She gives an intimate view into the mind of a third-century woman, which, for centuries, has been a great source of inspiration for women struggling with questions of identity and meaning. Given the degree of silence that has surrounded women throughout history, Perpetua’s story is astonishingly rare and precious. She may well not be the first woman to have put her thoughts on paper; she is, however, one of the first of whom we have any real knowledge. In her writing we can hear a voice too little heard. It is an extraordinary voice. She has given the Church – especially women – a role model and a positive example of empowerment.

Contributed by William Emilsen

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.

Caroline Chisholm, renewer of society

Caroline Chisholm arrived in New South Wales in 1838 with her husband Archibald, an Army officer on leave from service in India. She quickly became aware of the plight of many of the settlers, and especially of young girls who arrived from Britain after a long sea journey, sometimes seeking a husband or boyfriend who had been sent out as a convict or who had arrived earlier to find work. Often illiterate and impoverished, and without friends or contacts, many girls turned to prostitution in order to survive.  Caroline established a home for them in an old barracks, launching an employment agency offering work with local families who, as part of the contract, gave them protection and care. Her work broke down prejudices against “convict girls” and helped to establish a sense of solidarity in the emerging colony.

Recognising that good work could be found in the emerging farms and homesteads; Caroline led wagon trains out into the bush, settling young people with jobs. She became famous as a matchmaker, as girls met and married farmers and founded homes of their own. A devout Christian, Caroline believed in the sanctity of marriage and family life, and saw the injustice of official government policy, which encouraged young men to settle in Australia but tried to block the arrival of women who were officially described as “encumbrances”.

Men who had been sent out as convicts begged her to find their wives or fiancées back in Britain, and she travelled to London to do this, eventually reuniting many families. Renting a modest home near the London docks, she started a Family Colonisation Society helping poor families to settle in Australia, commissioning ships with clean and adequate accommodation, and establishing a London hostel next to her own home where families could stay while waiting to sail. Former shipping arrangements had meant men and women sharing accommodation, and a complete lack of privacy: she established a scheme in which all young unmarried people were adopted into families for the voyage, which also ensured networks of friendship and practical assistance on arrival in Australia.

Sometimes subjected to insults because of her Roman Catholic faith, Caroline remained a good-humoured woman whose tact and discretion, especially when dealing with the poorest families, made her much loved. She became the first woman ever to give evidence to a British Parliamentary committee, addressing MPs examining the ending of transportation and the possibilities of family migration. Herself a farmer’s daughter, she energetically promoted Australian farming, taking a sheaf of wheat from a New South Wales farm into Parliament to make her point.

Returning to Australia, Caroline worked to establish “Chisholm shelters” along the rough tracks leading out into the bush, opened a small school, and continued to lobby for the needs of settlers. Eventually settling back in London, she died in 1877 and is buried in her native Northampton where her grave names her as “The Emigrant’s Friend”.

Joanna Bogle

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.

Joseph of Nazareth, Witness to Jesus

Although Christian tradition tends to refer to Jesus as ‘son of Mary’, the Gospels also preserve a clear indication that he was also known to be the ‘son of Joseph’ (Luke 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42). Joseph appears primarily in the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. There he is named as the ‘husband’ of Mary through betrothal (Matthew 1:16, 18, 20). His importance for the gospel writers lies initially in his Davidic ancestry (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:27) which indicates that Jesus, as Israel’s Messiah, is seen as a part of the Davidic line (see Luke 1:32). This claim underlies the most famous story involving Joseph: the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in response to a purported imperial census. The story is only told in Luke 2:1–7, but an association with Bethlehem is presupposed by Matthew 2:1–6. In addition to supporting the notion that his son is to be Israel’s Messiah, Joseph is portrayed as a person who is faithful to the Jewish law (see Luke 2:27, 39). On hearing the news of Mary’s pregnancy, his concern to secure a quiet divorce is regarded as the action of a ‘righteous man’ (Matthew 1:19). However, it is his obedience to the revelation from God about Mary’s pregnancy by the Holy Spirit that marks Joseph out as faithful: ‘he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him’ (Matthew 1:24). As a recipient of dreams, Joseph is aligned with his Old Testament namesake, as does his exile to Egypt in the face of Herod’s violence (see Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23). The other mentions of Joseph in the New Testament associate him with Jesus’ upbringing in Nazareth (see Luke 2:51–52; Matthew 2:23), a village of around two thousand people, where it is likely that Joseph plied his trade as a ‘woodworker’, a broader and more appropriate term than the more usual ‘carpenter’ (see Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3, noting the variant reading). Joseph’s relative absence from the rest of the Jesus tradition is usually explained by the suggestion that he had died by the time Jesus began his public ministry, but our sources are silent.

Thus, whatever the historical or biological realities behind the Gospel accounts, Joseph of Nazareth is there remembered as a central character in the story of God’s saving purpose. His faithfulness to God, not least in the face of tyranny and violence, ensures that Israel’s ‘mighty saviour from the house of his servant David’ (Luke 1:69) is kept safe and is able to ‘increase in wisdom and in years’ (Luke 2:52).

Rev Dr Sean Winter