2nd May, 2021

​My dear friends,

I managed to get my hair cut the other day: I cannot tell you how good it feels to have a ‘short back and sides’ again! There are lots of small signs that in Great Britain the lockdown and vaccinations are having their desired effect and that life is returning to something a little more like normal.
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Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of India, where the coronavirus is spreading very rapidly and having a disastrous effect. Our hearts go out in loving sympathy to all caught up in the pandemic in India. St John Ambulance was first established in India in 1873 and grew over the next decades. According to Wikipedia, St John Ambulance in India severed its links with the Order of St John after Indian independence in 1947, and, although it retains the name St John Ambulance, it is now a branch of the Indian Red Cross. Whatever the historical background, the members of St John Ambulance in India are undoubtedly performing sterling service in the face of the biggest pandemic to hit the sub-continent since the 1918 Spanish Flu, which also had a devastating impact in India. I am sure you will join me in praying for all affected by Covid-19 in India and around the world, and for all who seek to help the sick and suffering.
With my continued prayers and all good wishes,

​                                             The Rev. Dr  ROBERT BEAKEN, County Chaplain
EASTER 5 – 2nd MAY 2021.
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Gospel: St John, chapter 15, verses 1-8
We are a nation of tea-drinkers. At the time of Jesus, the Jews were a nation of wine-drinkers: they had to be, because their water was not always safe to drink. The alcohol in the wine killed off any bugs and made it safe to drink. Every farmer or small-holder usually had a few vines from which he made wine, and so when Jesus spoke about ‘the true vine’ in today’s Gospel, he was using an image that most people understood. He said
 
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.
He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.
Every branch that bears fruit
he prunes to make it bear more fruit....
Abide in me as I abide in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself
unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you unless you abide in me.
 
            Imagine a vine. In the centre is the stem. It is often old and gnarled; it has seen many Summers and many grape harvests. Spreading out from it are the branches which have been carefully arranged by the farmer. There is a great art to vine-dressing – the result of many years of hard work and experience. Every year the branches begin to grow and the farmer has to prune them and train them to grow in a certain direction, so that they are sturdy enough to bear the weight of the grapes. He may have to thin them out, or remove them completely if they are growing into the wrong shape, but he has an idea in his mind of what the vine should look like so that it may be productive.

            Jesus tells us that we are to think of ourselves as something like a vine. He is the central stem, nourishing the whole of the plant, and we are the branches. His Father is the farmer. An ordinary farmer begins by gently training the branches to grow in the right shape, using twine and wooden stakes to pull the branches in a certain direction. Likewise, God the Father gently trains us to grow in the right direction through private prayer, Holy Communion, the Bible, other spiritual books. God not infrequently causes our path to cross with someone who will inspire us or help us. Our prayers are answered with hunches and feelings that we ought – or ought not – to do something; and afterwards we realise that God was gently guiding us all the time.

            Back to the vine: sometimes the farmer is forced to take more drastic action. The vine does not respond to gentle training and its branches persist in growing the wrong way. The farmer then is forced to prune the branches and indeed sometimes to lop them off. Similarly we find that God sometimes uses the sad and difficult experiences of our lives to shape us. It is important to stress at this point that God NEVER sends us bad things: as a loving Father, He is incapable of doing so. But we all suffer the effects of sin, illness, bereavement, and misfortune. These things are a consequence of the Fall and the fact that this world is not the way God wants it to be. But, the experience of Christians down the ages is that if we offer our sufferings to God, He will transform them and bring good out of them.

            We have to remember that God is greater than the worst suffering – that was demonstrated at Easter – and that we are being pruned, shaped and directed by an expert. Just as the farmer knows what shape he wants the vine to be, so that it can bear many bunches of grapes, so God similarly knows what shape he wants us to be.

            Above all we must trust God. Our heavenly Father wants only the best for us. Our job is to allow the vine stem, Jesus Christ, to feed and nourish us each day. “I am the vine,” said Jesus, “you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit.”