St Stephen, First Martyr, Orford

The Parish Church of St Stephen, First Martyr, sits by a roundabout in Orford, a suburb of Warrington. I rather like its pleasing, 1950s architecture, though I noted that even the gates to its grounds, never mind its its doors, were all locked. Perhaps the area was not as safe as I imagined. Its building style seems essentially ecclesiastical but without enslavement to the gothic style which an earlier generation of church builder would have insisted upon. The story of its construction is nicely recorded on the parish’s website and, despite the evident poverty of its founders, it still managed to erect an imposing bell tower.

Dedications to Stephen are not uncommon, but deliberately naming him as the “first” martyr sadly reminds that he was only the first of an appallingly long and gruesome list of Christians who would be killed for the name of Christ. The Church of Rome must bear its share of blame in this regard, though the worst killers of the last and current centuries are communism and Islam.

A curious passage we read in Revelation 6:9-11: 

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Although the text indicates that being killed for Christ will be a common occurrence for centuries to come, God will one day cry “Enough!”; the number of martyrs is finite; the divine decree sets a limitation on the bloodshed.

How long, O Lord?

A D