Echoes Of The Footsteps We Follow

School For Discipleship Trip To Oxford

Merton College, Oxford

Oxford, a city of learning, a city of thinkers and debaters, a city of stories, of bloodshed, a city of deceptive beauty, hiding some ugly truths, a city of echoes. 

Our day began with a tour of the city, focusing on its Christian heritage. James our tour guide brings the echoes of Oxfords past into our present, as we walk through the city streets, stopping at pivotal points in history, he throws the passage of time wide open for us, so we can almost hear the martyrs last words as we stand on the cross in Broadstreet where they were burnt at the stake, “be of good cheer, master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God’s grace shall never be put out.” 

We walk around and through the city, taking in the architecture, noticing the “aquatint” of the stone buildings around us, stopping we take a peek through metaled gates into the quadrant of Lincoln College, where we see a bust of Wesley under the windows of his college rooms. Everywhere we go there is another name, associated with another college, where prominent Christian men who have significantly impacted the church, have studied. 

We walk on to Radcliffe square with its cobbled streets, college roof tops and church spires, the Square being in sharp contrast with the magnificent Radcliffe camera, (a library), part of the Bodleian library, it takes centre stage, with its round walls and arched windows. 

A walk through Christ Church meadows, bounded by the rivers Cherwell and the Thames, offered a tranquil reprise from the hustle of the city, the turrets of Christ Church and Merton colleges rising up into the skyline around us and running along the North side of Merton field we see Deadman’s walk, a footpath named after the persecuted Jews, who were permitted to carry out their dead along the path to their burial ground outside the city walls, here sections of the original city walls still remain.

We continued to trace the footsteps of those who trod the streets before us, we hear about Wycliffe and Tyndale and the importance of their translations of the Bible. We catch whispers of conversations past, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, pubs they frequented and rooms they met in, to discuss and debate their views on Christianity. 

Oxford has seen many men and some women, like Josephine Butler (well worth reading about) changing history, standing firm in their beliefs, even unto death, men not getting everything right, being human. 

The patterns of history here echo the patterns we read throughout the Bible, reminding us that God works through us, to effect the changes HE wants. 

Martyrs’ Memorial, Oxford

We end our tour in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, used as a central meeting place for the university in the 13th century, the echoes of its past, palpable, they seep into the tranquil beauty we find ourselves sitting in, telling us of heated debates, challenging preaching, ( John Wesley, 1744), trials (Thomas Cranmer, 1556 ) and in the 19th century a series of sermons, preaching about the need for renewal, that became known as the Oxford Movement, all have played a part in shaping the church as we understand it today, through history, here in Oxford. 

The tour of Oxford has brought to life the teaching we recently covered on church history at School for Discipleship, names have faces and facts have been enriched with stories of human endeavor, failures and triumphs, the story that God is writing. 

As we leave James points out an inscription on one of the steps leading into Radcliffe Square from the church “most people don’t see it “he explained, 

DOMINUS CUSTODIAT INTROITUM TUUM ET EXITUM TUUM 

 “May the Lord preserve thy coming in and thy going out,” Psalm 121:8 

- Justine Sadler, SFD Student