Imam to preach Eucharistic sermon at University Church, Oxford
by Archbishop Cranmer:
The University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford dates back to 1086. It was the first building adopted by the University of Oxford in the 13th century, and was the site of the 1555-6 trials of the Oxford Martyrs, where Bishops Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer were tried for heresy. You can still see a section cut out of ‘Cranmer’s Pillar’ which supported the platform from which the Archbishop withdrew his recantations of his Reformed theological beliefs. John Wesley preached some notable sermons there, such as ‘Salvation by Faith‘ and ‘The Almost Christian‘, and he denounced the spiritual apathy and sloth of the senior members of the University in his sermon ‘Scriptural Christianity‘ on 24th August 1744:
…Is this city a Christian city? Is Christianity, scriptural Christianity, found here? Are we, considered as a community of men, so “filled with the Holy Ghost,” as to enjoy in our hearts, and show forth in our lives, the genuine fruits of that Spirit? Are all the Civil officers, all heads and Governors of Colleges and Halls, and their respective Societies (not to speak of the inhabitants of the town), “of one heart “and one soul?” Is “the love of God shed abroad in our hearts?” Are our tempers the same that were in him? And are our lives agreeable thereto? Are we “holy as he who hath called us is holy in all manner of conversation?”
…Ye venerable men, who are more especially called to form the tender minds of youth, to dispel thence the shades of ignorance and error, and train them up to be wise unto salvation, are you “filled with the Holy Ghost?” with all those “fruits of the Spirit,” which your important office so indispensably requires? Is your heart whole with God? full of love and zeal to set up his kingdom on earth? Do you continually remind those under your care, that the one rational end of all our studies, is to know, love and serve “the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent?” Do you inculcate upon them day by day, that love alone never faileth…
He was never asked to preach there again.
This coming weekend, an Imam will preach there. He will not be delivering a pre-worship talk on Islam or presenting a post-worship discourse on interfaith reconciliation, either of which would be perfectly acceptable in a university church of theological scholarship and missional service. No, he will be preaching the University Sermon at the 10.30am Choral Eucharist.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
