"It is a sobering thought that there have probably been as many martyrs of the Christian faith in the last hundred years as in any equivalent period in the history of the Church. The appalling slaughter visited on Christian communities in the modern age, continuing in some places even as I write, has been facilitated by modern methods of killing, even as it has ancient, barbarous continuity with the past. It is vital that Christians today continue to reflect on that history of suffering. But the oft-quoted tag of Tertullian’s about the blood of the martyrs being the seed of the Church may mislead, if it allows us to separate those who died for their faith from the mass of ‘ordinary’ Christians, people like you and me. The point of making much of martyrdom is surely not the death, nor even the courage of those who died, great and admirable though that may have been, but the faith shared with all those who place their trust in the Lord of life, the risen Jesus Christ, whose triumph over death signals God’s ultimate victory of love. Every time I walk past the west front of Westminster Abbey, I’m reminded not so much of death but of the sheer power of faith that can sustain us in the darkest moments.
 
I am glad that Canon James Hawkey has drawn together these sermons for wider reading. Each of them takes us to the heart of one person’s story of faith, one person’s journey of discipleship, which shine out as examples for us all. But through those personal stories, we’re also reminded of the sheer diversity of the Church today as it seeks to serve God in countries and contexts far removed from Westminster. I thank God for the vision of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, who chose the statues twenty-six years ago so well. They have given us a lasting symbol of the breadth as well as the depth of our faith."

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from the Foreword by Justin Welby