7th February, 2021.
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My dear friends,

At 6.00pm on Wednesday night I stood in my garden and clapped for Captain Sir Tom Moore, following his death aged 100. So did many other people in Great Bardfield. ‘Captain Tom’ worked his way into the nation’s affections by walking one hundred times up and down his garden with his wheeled walking frame, to try to raise £1,000 for the National Health Service before he reached his hundredth birthday. In the event he raised almost £33 million (£39 million with gift aid). It was a remarkable achievement by a very kind man.

            At the same time as I was clapping for Captain Tom, I couldn’t help but remember all the other people like him in the present pandemic, who have not attracted the attention of the media, but whose devotion to others has been just as remarkable. I found myself clapping for them, too, and also for all the wonderful people in St John who have contributed so much.

            Yesterday, 6th February, was the anniversary of the Accession to the throne of H.M. The Queen, the Sovereign Head of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. For us, 6th February is the anniversary of the accession of our much-loved monarch; but for The Queen, it is the sad anniversary of the death of her father, King George VI. I am sure you would all wish to join me in praying for The Queen as she enters the 69th year of her reign. Below is a special prayer for use on this occasion.

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

The Rev. Dr ROBERT BEAKEN, County Chaplain

Collect for use on the anniversary of the Accession of H.M. The Queen.
O GOD, who providest for thy people by thy power, and rulest over them in love: Vouchsafe so to bless thy Servant our Queen, that under her this nation may be wisely governed, and thy Church may serve thee in all godly quietness; and grant that she being devoted to thee with her whole heart, and persevering in good works unto the end, may, by thy guidance, come to thine everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Accession Service, The Book of Common Prayer.
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2 BEFORE LENT/SEXAGESIMA – 7th FEBRUARY 2021.
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Gospel reading: St John, chapter 1, verses 1-14
Today’s Gospel reading is known as the ‘Prologue’ of the Gospel according to St John. I think it contains some of the most wonderful words in the whole of the New Testament, in which St John the Evangelist tries to sum up the message he is about to give us. I would like us to think for a few moments about just one verse, verse 14:
 
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
 
This is a key sentence, and so I’d like us to go through it carefully, word for word.

            When Jesus returned to heaven at the Ascension, his disciples were left with the task of trying to work out who he was, and what his life on earth and his teaching meant. In order to do so, they had to adapt already existing words and ideas, and sometimes to invent new ones.
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The Jews, you will recall, were fiercely monotheistic: the believed that there was only One God, unlike the tribes and nations around them who believed in a multiplicity of deities. During their time together, Jesus Christ’s disciples had come to see that he was the Incarnate Son of God, perfect God and perfect man. It was a huge discovery for them. They realised that if Jesus Christ was the Son of God, then he could not have come into existence for the first time in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He must, rather, have always existed in heaven as part of God.

But how might we fittingly refer to Jesus Christ before his Incarnation – before the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary at the Annunciation? St John pondered and prayed about this. In the end, he adapted an already existing Greek word, λόγος, logos, which we normally translate as Word, with a capital W, to refer to Jesus Christ before his Incarnation.

So, with this in mind, we return to verse 14, where we read: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is the shocking, almost overpowering claim of Christianity: the Son of God truly came to earth, not as some great, mighty Lord; but instead as someone who took our human flesh, who shared our daily life. Jesus Christ didn’t just pretend to be human, but he was truly human, and yet he was also truly divine.

It is a lot for us to take on board: Christ left heaven and was born a little baby, to poor parents in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire. This is the foundation of Christianity.

Our New Testament says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is a poor translation of the original Greek words used by St John. St John actually wrote that the Word became flesh and was tabernacled among us: a significant difference. In Old Testament times, the ‘tabernacle’ was the portable tent constructed under the directions of Moses which the Hebrews carried around during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Inside it was the ‘holy of holies,’ the ark or chest containing the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments. It was very special and holy, and that is the point: Jesus Christ was very special and holy. But more than that, the tabernacle was carried around, it never rested in one place for very long. Jesus Christ’s physical presence on earth was not permanent, it was only as long as his lifetime – 33 years – a brief sojourn, but one of eternal significance for all who believe in future generations.

A little more of that verse: And dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ He was the final revelation of eternal truth sent by Almighty God to man. But Jesus was full of both grace and truth. Archbishop William Temple once said that the difference between Jesus and John the Baptist was that John the Baptist was, in his way, full of truth and he was a rather unappealing character. Jesus Christ was full of truth and of grace – by which we mean God’s love in action – and he was a most gracious and beautiful person.

We have beheld his glory.

The Hebrews believed that men and women could not look at God: the divine glory would be too much to bear. That is why Moses covered his face with a cloth when he ascended the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. Through faith, St Joh tells us, we can catch a glimpse of God’s glory through the life of His Son Jesus Christ, especially in the Resurrection.
Glory as of the only Son from the Father.

The source of Jesus Christ’s glory is God the Father. Jesus reflects something of God the Father to us on earth. We see that God is almighty, eternal, all-knowing, majestic, but also that He is our loving Father: indeed, Jesus taught us to call God ‘Abba’, which means something like ‘Daddy’ or ‘Papa.’. Another of the insights of Christianity is that if we want to know what God the Father is like, we should look at His Son, Jesus Christ.

            From what we can glean from his writings, St John the Evangelist who wrote these words was a very gentle man, no fanatic or persecutor. Yet for St John, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ was such a stupendous event that nothing else could ever be the same again.
 
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
 
These words are amongst the most beautiful in the whole of the New Testament, not just in themselves but because of the meaning behind them. The Word became flesh in order that we might truly live.

I am reminded of some words of St Irenaeus: ‘The glory of God is man fully alive.’