Brief spoken account (sermon-style) recounting that John Wycliffe was declared a heretic ~30 years after his death, his remains were exhumed and burned and the ashes cast into the River Swift. The speaker interprets the disposal of ashes as symbolically spreading Wycliffe’s influence (flowing into larger waterways and the Atlantic), calls him the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” and emphasizes his gift of the Bible and the legacy of faithful service.
Chapters
30 years after the death of Wycliffe at the Council of Constance in Germany, he was declared to be a heretic. A decree was made to dig up his bones and burn them to ashes. At that time, the Bishop of Lincoln was a former friend of his, and he delayed in acting on this request for five years. He moved out the area. And the next one who came in also vacillated for eight years before finally succumbing to this demand and dug up the bones and burned them.
After burning his bones, they threw the ashes into the River Swift. But the significance of this gruesome act and the symbolism it would come to later represent they could not have imagined. The River Swift flows into the River Avon. The River Avon flows into the Bristol Channel, and the Bristol Channel eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean. And so, symbolically, the effect of his work spread around the whole world. He is called the Morning Star of the Reformation because he was the beginning in a chain of events that once started, became unstoppable. John Wycliffe gave to the Christian church perhaps the greatest gift possible, the Bible. And once given, the light would begin to shine and the darkness would be peeled away.
John Wycliffe's work is key in our Christian heritage, for at the center of our faith is the Bible. Never underestimate the extent of the work that you do. John Wycliffe was called here to Lutterworth, a small, quiet country town, or probably back then, just a village. If any of us were called here to this town today, we might think it's not good enough or not big enough or not prestigious enough. But he faithfully did the work that God had called him to do and gave to the Christian Church perhaps the greatest gift possible. Wherever you are, use the gifts and the talents that God has given you for you never know how far your influence may spread.
