This is Wells, a fine British cathedral city which speaks today of a heritage preserved.
Preserving heritage is costly. First it depends on the value which people place upon it, then
it requires ongoing maintenance to preserve that value. As a nation it seems that we've been keen
to preserve some parts of our national identity and history while undervaluing others.
Our spiritual heritage is Judeo-Christian and this has been the foundation of our national
institutions. As we've allowed our spiritual foundations to be removed, so those institutions
have become increasingly hollow and valueless as recent crises in all areas of our society have shown.
Our central value used to be that every human being is created by God with a unique identity of
infinite worth. On this premise the British legal system for nearly a thousand years protected both
the individual's right to life and the natural family, father, mother and their children as the
original building block of a healthy enduring society. Centuries of protection are now being
quickly destroyed. The pace of change is breathtaking. There are accelerating legal
incursions on the sanctity of life at both its beginning and its end. While for those still
espousing and upholding the traditional Judeo-Christian values of our heritage there is now increasing
legal persecution for those beliefs which within living memory were actually a cornerstone of our
national identity. Our children are suffering in countless ways by this detachment from our
spiritual foundations. The natural family has been legally reshaped so that many children will
never be able to discover their true identity and genealogy. The family tree is dying. The good
news is that for those who believe in Jesus he gave the right to become children of God. Children
born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will but born of God. In the
Bible which once meant much to British people and their government the Old Testament prophet
Jeremiah tells us to stand at the crossroads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good
way is that we might walk in it. Jesus himself tells us that the broad road leads to destruction
and that many go there. He also tells us that he is the way the truth and the life. That true
life will only be found in Jesus who is also described as living water. The streets of Wells
run with water from ancient underground springs which give the city its name and its existence.
These springs rise in the mendip hills and find an outlet in the cartilage of the cathedral in the
grounds of the bishops palace where they endlessly water the gardens. What a living picture of how
the church was designed to function as a channel of God's love and life to a God-centered nation.
By the gift of one bishop in the 15th century those wellspring waters today also flow out
by conduit from the palace to the marketplace originally given to cleanse its streets of the
muck of trade and to bring life to the community. Today these flowing streams still enhance the
beauty of its thoroughfares but the understanding of the original need for cleansing waters seems
to have given way to other popular values and myths. What is the hope for our historic British
nation if she persists in cutting off her true spiritual foundations? If those are ultimately
broken and severed then only lifeless institutions will remain as inert monuments to pastimes of
glory. Perhaps the closing words of Psalm 24 can give us a perspective of hope and declaration
for such a time as this. Lift up your heads you gates be lifted up you ancient doors that the
king of glory may come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty
in battle. Lift up your heads you gates lift them up you ancient doors that the king of glory may
come in. Who is he this king of glory? The Lord almighty he is the king of glory. And in the
time honoured words of the Prophet Zechariah this preservation of spiritual heritage will happen
not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord God almighty. Let us who believe in
God's spirit pray as never before for God's kingdom to come in Britain and for a restoration and
revival of her spiritual heritage which undergirded her values and were an inspiration to the world.
