28th February, 2021.
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My dear friends,

At midday yesterday some of our bell ringers rang the bells at St Mary’s Church, Great Bardfield, to coincide with the funeral of Captain Sir Tom Moore. Bells were rung at many other churches across Great Britain to pay tribute to Captain Tom, a truly inspirational man who raised forty million pounds for the National Health Service in his hundredth year.
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I was very glad that we were able to join in; but as I listened to the sound of the bells ringing out over the housetops, I found myself thinking of all the other men and women in our country who have died as a result of Covid-19 – around 124,000 people. Part of me would have liked to ring the bells for each one of them as well. Every death from Covid-19 is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to the bereaved, and especially to all, who, having lost someone, carry on caring for others. They, too, are an inspiration for the rest of us.

Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have had to begin holding much simpler funeral services than usual. I have always tried to take great pains when conducting funerals – as also when officiating at baptisms and weddings – and I am keen to convey the point that just because a funeral is necessarily simpler, it is not any less loving or meaningful. I conducted a simple open-air funeral beside a grave last week, and the family told me afterwards that it had been unexpectedly helpful and moving.

It was lovely to see the Queen on the television on Thursday and to hear Her Majesty’s words about the vaccine and her praise of all who are working so hard at vaccination centres across the country – including, of course, many members of St John Ambulance. Let us continue to pray for our Queen and for the recovery of Prince Philip in hospital.

​​With my prayers and all good and warm wishes,

The Rev. Dr ROBERT BEAKEN, County Chaplain
LENT 2 – 28th FEBRUARY 2021
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Gospel: St Mark, chapter 8, verses 31-38
One of the more dramatic moments in the Gospels comes beside the shore of Lake Galilee, when Jesus asks Peter who he thinks he is? After going all round the houses, Peter finally answers: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
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This was a very significant leap forward. The Jews had long known that the Messiah would come one day. There were various different understandings in circulation of precisely who the Messiah would be when he arrived, but it was generally thought that he would be a messenger from God with special power and authority, who would deliver the Jews from their hated Roman overlords, sort out all their problems, and restore the glory of the kingdom of Israel. All the Jews expected the Messiah would use brute force: that he would lead the Jews in an armed struggle, in which they would be victorious.

Now, as we know, when the Messiah arrived, he didn’t fulfil this expectation at all. The Messiah turned out to be not merely a messenger from God, but part of God Himself, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God come to Earth. This idea of the Son of God was a very big one for the disciples to grasp. As I have said before, the Jews were fiercely monotheistic, and affirmed that there is only one God, unlike the tribes and nations around them who worshipped a great variety of deities. It must, therefore, have taken a great deal of faith and courage for the first Christians, who had been brought up as Jews, to accept that Jesus Christ was divine as well as human. The Gospels show Jesus Christ revealing his nature to them, bit by bit, very slowly, never more than they could bear at any one time, until the penny dropped.

Peter was the first person to put this into words. As I have already mentioned, when questioned by Jesus beside besides Lake Galilee, Peter answered: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ He was the first person ever to say this to Jesus to his face.

            But if Peter grasped the identity of Jesus Christ, there was still a long way to go. The disciples still thought Jesus would go on to become a mighty warrior, who would lead the Jews to victory over the Romans and the surrounding kingdoms. But, as the Lord said elsewhere, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’

Jesus tended not to call himself the Messiah: that would have been too obvious, though he admitted his identity to the woman at the well and also in a roundabout way to Pontius Pilate. Instead, Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man, a much gentler and less martial title. We read in today’s Gospel:
 
Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.’
 
Christ’s words about undergoing suffering, being rejected and killed were quite beyond Peter’s understanding. So too was the reference to rising from the dead on the third day. Peter, like the others, still expected the Messiah to be a triumphant warlord.

            We are brought here face to face with the true identity of Christ and the whole purpose of his Incarnation and mission upon earth. God saw that the world and the men and women in it had gone horribly wrong. Humanity had abused his freewill. Sin and evil entered God’s creation and spoilt it. God could quite easily have destroyed the world and all the men and women in it, and begun afresh. But He didn’t. Let us think for a minute of the love of parents for their children. Mothers and fathers see their children doing bad things, taking wrong decisions, messing up their lives; and they don’t stop loving their children. Rather, they love them all the more. They try to help their sons and daughters. Sometimes their children don’t want their help – or at least not then – but parents carry on loving, praying, hoping, being there for their children.

It was exactly the same with God our Heavenly Father. He did not want to scrap the world, to destroy His own children. The more we went astray, the more God loved us. And so God determined upon a plan: He would rescue humanity by sending His own Son into the world. Christ came not to destroy man’s pain and suffering – for to do that would mean destroying man himself and his world and starting all over again. Rather, Christ came to share our lives, the happy and wonderful bits, as well as the difficult and horrible experiences. Christ entered our world to change it from within by his love, with our cooperation. Ultimately, he did this on the Cross, where he bore all our sins on his shoulders. Henceforth, we continue to commit sin, but we have the opportunity of being forgiven and making a fresh start, if only we will turn to Christ in faith and repentance.

It is not surprising that Peter and the first disciples did not fully understand all this. The penny only began to drop two or three years later, after the Crucifixion and Resurrection. They remembered Christ’s words that we should set our minds on divine things, and not just on earthly things. They remembered, too, that Christ had said we should take up our own crosses and follow him.

The Christian pilgrimage through life is a pretty mixed affair. At times it is hugely exciting and infectious. Sometimes it can be dull and boring. At other times, following Jesus can be very difficult and demanding. We Christians have all the usual worries and problems of everyday life, just like everyone else. From time to time we also suffer because the world does not understand Christianity – or perhaps it doesn’t try very hard – and it sometimes resents aspects of the Christian faith. At times – sad to relate – we suffer at the hands of our fellow-believers.

And yet we don’t give up. Christ had to endure crucifixion before resurrection, and we know, deep down, that we shall be all right with him. I am reminded of some words on a leaflet for men exploring the idea of becoming monks: ‘We cannot say you will always be happy here, but we can guarantee that you will experience a deep peace from God.’

This is the peace of God which passes all understanding which we mention in the blessing. We must get our relationship with Jesus right, allow ourselves to fall in love with God, and let the electric current of faith flow between us and Christ. Then, all will be well. Our lives will still contain pain and suffering, as well as happiness and joy. But we shall know ourselves, personally, to be loved by God and safe in His hands; and, knowing that, we shall know peace that passes all understanding.