Colourful Dreamer

For our St George's Day celebration I wrote this little play about St George, the Serpent (no dragons in this play thank-you!) and the Empress Alexandra (no damsels in this play either - enough of that nonsense.) You can listen to it here. George and the Serpent! Today we are going to act out the story of St George who do we need? -         George -         Serpent -         Empress Alexandria -         Emperor Diocletian -         Sub-emperor -         Christian commanders -         Non-Christian commanders and torturers   Along time ago (around 300CE) there was an emperor called Diocletian. He ruled all the Roman Empire from Britain all the way to Persia and down to North Africa He was tough He made Rome great agai...

  This week’s gospel reading ( Matt 14:13-21 ) is another well-known story. It is one of those stories where you need to read around it. And when we do we find that there are two meals – one leading to death and one offering hope. The story before is of Herod’s depraved meal where Jesus’ teacher, mentor and friend, John, is beheaded. Jesus is trying to grieve. Instead he finds a crowd also filled with grief and anger, looking for hope. Herod’s birthday party is full of self-centeredness and greed, symbolic of all that is wrong with Herod, Rome, and the Temple leadership. As a Tribune in the Roman Emperor’s bodyguard, this is the world St George often lived in. But as a Christian he was drawn to Jesus. The Jesus who in his grief still meets the poor and discarded masses with generosity and compassion. In contrast to the abuse of power encountered in the Herod’s birthday bash, and in the Roman court, Jesus lives out God’s faithfulness, gracious abundance, and compassion. Despite the ...

Today we honour our patron saint - The Great Martyr Saint George.   Wikipedia tells us that Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος, Geṓrgios; Latin: Georgius; d. 23 April 303) was a soldier of Greek origins, member of the Praetorian Guard for the Roman emperor Diocletian, who was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. We remember his courage in publically declaring before his emperor both that the command for all soldiers to sacrifice to the imperial cult or be executed was evil, and that he was a Christian and would not be sacrificing. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition he is named among the great martyrs. He is widely venerated and respected by Christian and non-Christians. We join with many churches around the world and fly his flag to honour his story. We recall the Muslim saying applied to him that says “The righteous act is to confront the tyrant”. St. George continues to be an inspiration for Christians under persecution, especially Palestinian Chris...