Polycarp

O God, the maker of heaven and earth, who gave to your venerable servant, the holy and gentle Polycarp, boldness to confess Jesus Christ as King and Savior, and steadfastness to die for his faith...

Polycarp, who was Bishop of Smyrna, was burned to death on this date in 156. As he waited for the fire to be lighted he prayed, blessing God.

Smyrna is one of the seven churches of Asia named in the Revelation of St. John, in present day Turkey. In the Revelation it is identified as a church undergoing persecution. Polycarp would later become bishop there and tradition says that he was instructed in the faith by the apostle John and that he, in turn, helped to form and shape Irenaeus who would become Bishop of Lyons.

What strikes me as I reflect on Polycarp's life and witness is that this is how apostolic faith works, to this very day. I care less about the literal nature of "apostolic succession" and whose hands were laid on whose heads than I do about a holy, catholic, and apostolic faith which is about passing on the traditions but also allowing and encouraging each new generation to allow the gospel to come to life in a new context. From first-century Palestine to western Turkey to France...eventually to new worlds and back again. Someone telling someone who tells someone else. But more than telling, and more than words. Actions and deeds, reflections and stories and sermons and mission projects that nurture and encourage and shape faith. I am mindful on this day of the many people who shared the good news with me: grandparents and parents, pastors and Sunday school teachers, friends and colleagues near and far...and knowing it's still not finished. And in turn, I hope in some small way I've been able to pass that on, also knowing that as the gospel takes hold in someone else's life it takes on a new shape, and is no longer mine but new again. There is a temptation to think that someone the gospel is lost in this passing-along-process and that somehow it was "purer" for Polycarp than it is today. I think that is nonsense; and that the truth of the matter is that everytime it is passed along and received it is new again, and the living Christ is in the midst of it all to the end of the ages.