6th December, 2020.
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My dear friends,

 It felt very good last week to emerge from our second national ‘lockdown’ (this will surely be the word of 2020). I saw some St John Ambulance staff testing the temperatures of football fans at a match earlier today – and I send my very best wishes to all our St John friends who are busy with this important work.
 
The other good news of the past week is that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the use in the United Kingdom of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Other Covid-19 vaccines, including that produced by Oxford/AstraZenica, are also undergoing review and we hope will be approved for use soon.
 
Administering the Covid-19 vaccines to the population of the United Kingdom is going to be a huge logistical and administrative task. There are plans to use volunteers from St John Ambulance and other organisations including the Red Cross and the Royal Voluntary Service. Even if we are not involved directly in administering the Covid-19 vaccines, there will be many other ways in which we can lend a hand. We might, for example, give people lifts in our cars to the various centres where the ‘jabs’ will be administered; or we might see what we could do to support the volunteers administering the vaccine, such as getting their shopping for them or inviting them to a meal. Much help is going to be required, and there will be many ways in which we can all lend a hand. Administering the Covid-19 vaccine to the British population will be a marvellous achievement, which will surely end up in the history books.

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

The Rev. Dr ROBERT BEAKEN, County Chaplain
ADVENT 2 – 6th DECEMBER 2020.
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Gospel: St Mark, chapter 1, verses 1-8
Our Gospel reading this morning introduces us to the figure of St John the Baptist. John was a cousin of Jesus. His life is fascinating. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. There was a long tradition of prophets in ancient Israel. They didn’t prophesy in the sense of looking into a crystal ball and predicting the future. Rather, to use a metaphor, the prophets held up a large mirror – God’s mirror – so that men and women could see themselves reflected back. They passed comment on society, from the point of view of God.
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            By the time of John the Baptist, there hadn’t been a major prophet for around four hundred years. John the Baptist emerged in the wilderness, a very austere, determined, tough man. The Jews had long known that the Messiah would come into the world, though they had rather a fuzzy notion of what the Messiah would be like, and expected him to be a sort of warrior-prince. John announced to them that the Messiah was not merely on the way; he had already arrived – the Messiah was concealed amongst them and one day soon he would reveal his identity.
John the Baptist therefore called upon his hearers to prepare very seriously for the imminent appearance of the Messiah. He, as it were, held up a mirror, so they could see themselves reflected back, and he passed comment. He told them that they were all mired with sin, and all had to repent and be baptised by him in the river Jordan.

            All men and women are conceived and born in what the theologians call Original Sin. Something has gone terribly wrong, and the world is not the way God wants it to be. Evil has entered creation, and seeks to undo the work of God and to lead men and women astray. More than that: because of Original Sin, we all have a tendency to gravitate towards sin. God gives us a choice: we can do His will, or we can do something else. And more often than not, we do something else.

            The trouble with sin is that it gets between us and God, like fog, so that we cannot see Him clearly. It also poisons our relationships with other people. It can set brother against brother. It can damage us and our outlook on the world, and lead us to delude ourselves that bad things are actually rather good.

            The response to this, John announced to those who flocked to hear him, is what we call repentance. This means turning over a new leaf. We must frankly acknowledge our sins and confess them to God. We must put right any damage we have done and seek to be reconciled with those we have hurt, or with whom we have fallen out.

            Now, this does not come easy, and the first step must be taken by us. But elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus tells us the lovely parable of the Prodigal Son, who returned home to his old dad with a little speech of apology, but before he could complete it, the old man ran towards him and hugged and kissed him, because he was so pleased to have him back. He didn’t even notice how dirty and smelly his son was, because of his joy at being reconciled. That is how God is. He hates it when we sin. But He loves it when we repent, and He hurries towards us, to forgive us, to wipe the slate clean and cleanse our consciences.

            In this season of Advent we are preparing to celebrate the birth of a divine baby who is a sign of God’s deep and abiding love for all of His children, whoever they are, whatever they have done. Christ loathes no one. He may loathe some of the things we do, say, and think; but that is slightly different. Despite that, he has only love for us, and he wants to help us.   

John told his listeners that they didn’t have much time left. The Messiah was already in their midst. In Advent we are reminded that God’s judgement has already begun. We don’t know how much time we have left upon earth. John’s words echo down the centuries to us. They call us to repent and be forgiven, whilst there is still time.