My dear friends,
By the time this magazine reaches you we shall have begun the Church’s season of Lent in preparation for Holy Week and Easter. The Dean of Battle and I have arranged another series of services of Compline with addresses looking at aspects of the Apostles’ Creed on four Wednesdays in Lent, followed by refreshments.
25th February, 7.30pm
St Laurence’s Church, Catsfield
Who was conceived by the HoWednesdayly Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary The Reverend Dr Robert Beaken
Wednesday 4th March, 7.30pm
St Mary’s Church, Bat
Suffered under Pontius Pilate
The Reverend Ian Edgar
Wednesday 11th March, 7.30pm
St George’s Church, Crowhurst
The third day he rose again from the dead
The Very Reverend Lee Duckett
Wednesday 18th March, 7.30pm
St Mary’s Church, Battle
I believe in the Communion of Saints
The Venerable Russell Dewhurst, Archdeacon of Hastings
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During Lent 2026 I shall once more place my collecting buckets at the back of our churches in aid of St John Eye Hospital, Jerusalem, a Christian foundation that treats Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land, irrespective of faith, ethnicity or ability to pay. The main hospital in Jerusalem also runs other hospitals and clinics around the Holy Land, as well as temporary ‘pop-up’ eye clinics in remote rural areas, often undertaken from the back of specially adapted ambulances.
One such regional hospital was established a few years ago in Gaza. Like me, you will have seen tragic scenes from Gaza on the television. Several nurses from the Gaza St John Eye Hospital were killed in the bombing and the operating theatres were damaged by the explosions. Eighteen doctors and nurses have survived, though all are now homeless. Despite this, the doctors and nurses turn up for work every day and are managing to treat patients with primary eye care at a rate of 1,000 per week. Across Jerusalem and the Holy Land, St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem and its other hospitals and clinics treated a remarkable 231,986 patients in 2025.
The Hospital relies on donations to carry out its important work. Could I suggest that readers of this parish magazine might consider giving up something for Lent – cake, chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol, etc – and donating the money saved to St John Eye Hospital. I recently suggested to the members of St John Ambulance and the Order of St John in Sussex that they might donate the equivalent of a cup of tea or coffee per week. The ordinary people in Gaza are our brothers and sisters. They have been caught up in the most terrible conflict and have suffered grievously.
We might care to ponder Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the sheep and the goats (St Matthew, chapter 25, verses 37-40):
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
If through our special Lent collection we can help get the Gaza St John Eye Hospital back on its feet, we shall have helped achieve something very worthwhile in preparation for our celebration of Easter and the triumph of God’s love in Christ’s Resurrection.
With my love and prayers,
Father Robert.