![\"Saint](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/98786sp_385w_217h_259x_166y.jpg\")
\u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n \u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n
Dear Saint George,<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been a part of my life for decades \u2013 ever since I was around eight months old. Back then, I was christened at St George the Martyr Church in Brentford, west London.<\/p>\n
Sadly, the church closed and, for more than 40 years, was a musical museum. Today, it\u2019s been transformed into luxury flats, with views across the River Thames to Kew Gardens. I was one of the first people to see inside the new development.<\/p>\n
Yet somehow that distant christening planted a seed in my life and today, I\u2019m a Christian minister \u2013 and I rejoice that there are now thriving churches just a short walk from the old St George\u2019s.<\/p>\n
My links continue, and a stained-glass depiction of St George \u2013 alongside St Paul and St Alban \u2013 is a prominent feature of the church where I now serve.<\/p>\n
But just recently, you\u2019ve become more controversial. Flags of St George \u2013 long a feature of international sports tournaments \u2013 have been painted on roundabouts, hung from lampposts and used in demonstrations.<\/p>\n
Exactly what this means has been contested and argued over. Some rejoice in what they see as a long-overdue outbreak of national pride. Others worry that the flags are promoting racism and a nostalgic look back to an England very different from today\u2019s multi-cultural society.<\/p>\n
Churches with flag poles have wondered whether they should fly their St George\u2019s flags on Thursday April 23rd, St George\u2019s Day. Could this act be misinterpreted by parishioners?<\/p>\n
Enter some Church of England bishops\u2026<\/p>\n
Bishop of Leicester Martyn Snow has encouraged churches to fly their St George\u2019s flags to demonstrate \u2018a healthy patriotism.\u2019 He has called on parishes to demonstrate: a realistic view of the nation\u2019s past, a welcome for everyone who lives in their communities, a commitment to the common good, and an emphasis on the church as an entity with both a long heritage and a desire to work for a better future for all.<\/p>\n
That sounds like much more than can be explained in a social media post or set out on a fridge magnet. And it needs, of course, to be much more than words.<\/p>\n
In a society where many people feel that they have been \u2018left behind\u2019 while others are thriving, the church has to be seen to be speaking and acting for justice, and working to make life better for people living across their communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Churches are called to be places where everyone feels valued and treated fairly. Across denominations, our record on that has not always been perfect, but we\u2019re making strides to raise our game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell has also entered the fray. He reminded people of your origins, Saint George, as, by legend, a heroic Roman soldier and a dragon-slayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He pointed out that you\u2019re also the patron saint of Ethiopia, Georgia, Bulgaria, as well as Moscow and Beirut. So you\u2019re a saint with international roots and supporters well beyond England\u2019s green and pleasant land.<\/p>\n
St George\u2019s example, says the Archbishop, \u201ccalls us all to face the \u2018dragons\u2019 of modern life \u2013 fear, injustice, intolerance, persecution and moral compromise \u2013 with integrity and love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And he has called for the red cross of St George to be \u201ca signpost pointing to a way of life marked by devotion and service to others.\u201d He invites people \u201cto ask where that same courage, and an identity which transcends human difference and indifference might be needed in our lives today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flag-waving may worry some and encourage others, but maybe it\u2019s part of prompting a debate about our role as citizens in 21st century society. Together we are called to work out how \u2013 in our increasingly-divided world \u2013 we can find a way back to co-operating together, striving for the common good.<\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s call for us to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves is a key part of the Christian response, and challenge.<\/p>\n
Your courage, St George, could help us as we seek to work for a better world \u2026<\/p>\n
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, UK, and a former communications director with the CofE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock) Dear Saint George, You\u2019ve been a part of my life for decades \u2013 ever since I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":912268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,256232,393,256234,24085,4884,28383,256233,256231,24026,16,15],"class_list":["post-912267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-england","tag-britain","tag-christian-saints","tag-england","tag-english-flag","tag-flags","tag-great-britain","tag-nationalism","tag-patron-saints","tag-saint-georges-day","tag-st-georges-day","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116451465341521992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}