31st January, 2021.
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My dear friends,

The Order of St John has a splendid Museum at St John’s Gate (St John’s Lane
Clerkenwell, London EC1M 4DA) which looks at the origins and history of the Knights Hospitaller of St John and our modern Venerable Order. It is a 5-10 minute walk from St Paul’s Cathedral and in normal times is well worth a visit. Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 the Museum has had to be temporarily closed. However, on Wednesday evenings from 10th February 2021, beginning at 7.00pm, there are to be a series of online talks entitled Treasures from the Museum of the Order of St John.

On 10th February sculpture expert Dr Jeremy Warren will talk about a portrait bust of Jean de la Valette and the man it portrays. Jean Parisot de Valette was the forty-ninth Grand Master of the Order of St John and founder of the city of Valletta, the capital of Malta. He is best known for organising the defence of Malta during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Outnumbered by the large Ottoman force, the Order resisted the siege for over three months until the Turkish forces retreated. The victory brought Valette a great deal of prestige across Europe and he received many gifts to commend his brave leadership. This bust, the finest known portrait of this historical figure, is an example of such a gift and has been recently attributed to the important Renaissance sculptor Giovanni Bandini.

On 17th February Professor Timothy Wilson will talk about the Museum’s collection of beautiful pharmacy jars within the context of the art of maiolica. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw a great artistic flowering of pottery painting in Italy, which elevated maiolica to the level of a branch of Renaissance art. Among the most important markets for Italian maiolica workshops were pharmacies, both in religious hospitals and in commercial street operation. The Museum of the Order of St John holds a notable collection of maiolica jars, many of them made for the Order of St John in Malta.

On 24th February art historian and curator Caroline Tonna will talk about the importance of fashionable dress to eighteenth century Maltese gentry and nobility. The focus will be on portraits of costume in Malta in the rich collection of the Museum of the Order of St John, London.

On 3rd March art historian and author Francesca Balzan will talk about the jewellery prevalent in Malta between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Not only will we be looking at stylistic development, but we will also delve into the meaning of the jewellery and the context in which it was produced, the superstitions and quirks that made this jewellery so deeply personal yet reflective of society of the time.

Tickets to view these talks must be booked via the Museum’s website http://museumstjohn.org.uk/events/ There will be live subtitles provided for all talks. All proceeds will be put towards the conservation of the books and bound manuscripts in the Museum’s internationally significant library collection.
It looks to be a very interesting series of talks and just the thing to divert our minds on Winter evenings during the lockdown. 

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

The Rev. Dr ROBERT BEAKEN, County Chaplain
THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE – 31st JANUARY 2021.
 
Gospel: St Luke, chapter 2, verses 22-40
“Put the kettle on, Joseph. What a day we’ve had!”
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Well, of course, they didn’t have kettles or indeed cups of tea in first century Jerusalem, but I can easily imagine the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Joseph doing whatever was the equivalent in those days when they got back to their lodgings.

It was quite a day. Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus had all been to the Temple in Jerusalem for the Jewish ceremony of the presentation of the first-born son, for whom an offering of five shekels had to be made. It would have been a big day anyway, but strange things had happened.

Normally a mother would offer a lamb to be sacrificed, but if you were poor you could offer a couple of doves or pigeons. The Holy Family were very poor and pigeons were all they could afford. So, off they went to the Temple, the great centre of the Jewish faith, which was very grand and beautiful.

Perhaps the simple couple from provincial Nazareth paused to look around and savour their big day. It was then that Simeon found them. Simeon is described to us as ‘righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.’ He spent much time in prayer and reflection, and, St Luke tells us, “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.’

One day Simeon got an idea in his head – ‘guided by the Spirit’ says St Luke – that he ought to go to the Temple. So, out he went into the streets of Jerusalem, up the hill and into the precincts of the Temple. There, he spotted a young mother, her older husband and their little baby boy. This, Simeon suddenly realised, was the Messiah. Not a great warrior-prince, but a tiny helpless baby. He went over and asked to hold the child. Mary and Joseph must have wondered momentarily what on earth was going on. Then Simeon spoke the words that have become known to us as the Nunc Dimittis. Let us go through it, and see what he meant. I am going to use the more familiar version from the Book of Common Prayer which we use at Evensong.
 
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.
Simeon is quite happy to die, for his vision – for which he has waited so long – has at last come true.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation; which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.
Simeon recognises the true identity of the baby, ‘thy salvation’, the Messiah.
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
 
I imagine Mary and Joseph stirring uneasily at that point and even old Simeon wondering at what he had said. One is born a Jew if one’s mother is Jewish. It is possible to convert to Judaism, but it is not very common. Yet Simeon said that the Messiah was to be the light that guided the Gentiles, all the non-Jewish people in the world, i.e. you and me, as well as to be the glory God’s chosen people, the Hebrews.

Simeon blessed the Holy Family and said to Mary “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.’ How Mary must have remembered this after the crucifixion.

They were then joined by Anna, an old woman who lived in the Temple praying and  worshipping, and she too came up and gave thanks for the baby Jesus “and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem”.

“Put the kettle on, Joseph. What a day we’ve had!” What a day indeed. A trip to the great Temple. Moving religious ceremonies. And then a strange old man and a strange old woman, who recognised Jesus as the Messiah, saw that he was both the light to the Gentiles and the glory of the Jews, and predicted future suffering. Mary must have sat there that night when Jesus was safely tucked up, asleep, quietly turning it all over in her mind, and on other nights too. Many years afterwards, she was able to recall this strange day from memory and she told it to St Luke or to someone who passed it on to him to include in his Gospel.

When St Luke compiled his Gospel, he put this story right at the beginning in chapter two, because he realised that this is a bit like opening speech of a barrister. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” begins the barrister, “I propose to show you that the accused could not possibly have robbed the shop in Regent Street because at the time in question he was at the dentist’s having a filling”, and he goes on to produce witnesses and evidence to demonstrate that this is the case. Well, this story of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple serves a similar purpose. We see here a Messiah who is born as a tiny, helpless baby, who comes to stand alongside his people, not to dominate them. A Messiah who will go on to die in sacrifice for the sins of the world, bringing great anguish to his mother, so that a sword will seem to pierce her soul. A Messiah whose salvation will extend to both Jews and Gentiles. The rest of the Gospel is about the unfolding of this story.
The common denominator between Simeon, Anna, Mary and Joseph is that they all had faith. God’s purposes may not always seem clear, and things certainly will not always be easy during our Christian pilgrimage through life, but in the end it is all worthwhile.

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ... for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”. May we have faith like Simeon, Anna, Mary and Joseph, and seek and find Jesus Christ the Messiah in our lives, too.