The Living Gospel 

Whenever I visit the British Library in London I try to search out two very special manuscripts ~ The Codex Siniaticus and the Codex Alexandrinus. They are two of the rarest copies of Bible texts in Greek. In the case of Codex Siniaticus it is one of the most important books in the world. It is, arguably, the oldest complete copy of the New Testament that is still in existence, though not all of it is kept in London with a portion still being in Egypt, Russia and Leipzig.  However, it has been digitally re-united so a complete copy now exists.
From its text (and others which are less complete) all our translations of the New Testament are influenced.

It is also rather beautiful to look at in its handwritten script.
To come close to what is the earliest known version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, lovingly scripted in the 4th century at the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, is to come close to the Living Gospel. It is the closest we get to God’s Holy Word spoken by Jesus and the New Testament apostles and evangelists.
Yet this is not the only example of the Living Gospel.

I write this on All Hallows Eve or ‘Halloween’ – a night when we try not to think of ghosts and scary things but rather of the Holy Ones of God—the saints whose lives God touched and who became, in the way they lived those lives Living  copies of the Good  News of Jesus Christ. I think not only of the many saints we commemorate in our Church Calendars but also those whose holiness is known to but a few, though always to God. People who, through the lives and values they have tried to lead and the faith they have proclaimed, been influential and an encouragement to others. Most, if not all, of us who embrace the Christian faith, can think of such people whose nurture of our Christian understanding and practice have laid the foundation of our belief in Jesus Christ and our love for Him. These are the unsung hero’s of our Church. These we remember at All Saints’ tide.
But their specialness is not about them being unique. All of us are called to be the Holy Ones of God. We are all called to saintliness and to nurture and grow the faith of others by our example, our prayers and our living out of the Gospel—a Gospel we should know by heart because it is absorbed into our souls. Someone once said that we should remember that we may be the only copy of the Gospel that others may read!

As I keep the Hallowed (sacred) evening on the cusp of All Saints’ Day, I think of those holy ones of God  who have made such a difference in my own life with their outflowing of God’s love. They have been the beacons which have illuminated my journey towards God. I am thankful that they were placed in my way to bring God’s heavenly glow to my pilgrimage to heaven.
They are also a reminder that, as we can read in the Book of Wisdom (Chapter 3) “The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God.“
That includes all the Saints, and all who, today, are trying to live close to God and who continue to show us the way to God’s Heart.

[Mr G. All Hallows Ever 2025]