May 2026 Parish Letter
My dear friends,
As I write these words, preliminary negotiations to try to end the conflict in Iran appear to have broken up without a result. I hope they will soon be renewed. It is important that we lay the conflict in the Middle East before God in prayer, asking for wisdom for all statesmen and leaders. Let us pray, too, for all who suffer because of war and man’s inhumanity to man, in the Middle East, Ukraine, Africa and elsewhere.
We had a very happy and moving Holy Week and Easter. One Easter Day our services were attended by almost one hundred children and adults. May I express my warm appreciation and thanks to everyone who worked so hard to clean and prepare St George’s and St Laurence’s Churches and decorated them with such beautiful and imaginative floral arrangements in preparation for our celebration of Christ’s wonderful Resurrection at Easter. Your help was very much appreciated and the flowers greatly enjoyed.
With my love and prayers,
Father Robert.
Maundy Thursday 2026
As many of you know, I am the Sussex county chaplain and hospitaller of the Order of St John. The Sovereign Head of the Order is H.M. the King. The Order runs St John Ambulance in many places around the world and St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.
I have been fascinated to find out about the history and work of the Order of St John, which seems, in a funny sort of way, to reflect the message of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday.
Around a thousand years ago there was a Benedictine monastery in Jerusalem dedicated to ‘St Mary of the Latins’, beside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It contained a small infirmary where sick pilgrims were nursed by the monks. At the start of the twelfth century one of the Benedictine monks, Blessèd Gerard, got together a little group of his fellow monks, and they all committed their lives entirely to the care of the sick. They used to pray in the nearby Church of St John the Baptist, and they took Saint John as their patron. Within a generation, they had evolved from a small group within the Benedictine Order into a distinct Order of their own, the Order of the Hospital of St John.
From the very first, the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem treated both men and women. Interestingly, as well as caring for Christians, it also cared for Muslims and Jews, and no distinction was made, except that Christians were offered the opportunity to go to Confession and to receive Holy Communion. The Hospital had remarkably high standards. They knew that cleanliness mattered, though they didn’t understand why, and patients and staff had to wash often. They used silver bowls, because these didn’t harbour germs: no one knew about germs, but they had spotted that using silver helped. They had a good and varied diet. The patients were provided with beds with feather mattresses and linen sheets. The members of the Order of St John slept on the hard floor next to the patients’ beds – to be available to help them during the night, if needed – and they all ate the same food. As the Order evolved into an order of chivalry, because of the need to protect pilgrims from brutal robbers, the professed knights of St John were each expected to take turns caring for the sick, and even the Grand Master of the Order spent a day each month working in the wards. These were often men from some of the great aristocratic families of Europe, and yet they washed the patients, fetched medicine, changed dressings, served meals, washed the floors, and prayed for the patients in their care.
‘Well,’ you may say, ‘this is all very interesting, and we can see, Father Robert, that you find it fascinating, but what has it got to do with Maundy Thursday and Easter?’ The answer is simple, and it is all to do with geography and prayer.
The Hospital of St John was located in Jerusalem next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which contained the site of the Crucifixion and Jesus’ tomb. Many of the places associated with Jesus were nearby. A short stroll from the Hospital, for example, brought the monks to the Cenaculum, the Upper Room, where Jesus held the Last Supper, during which he washed his disciples’ feet and instituted the Eucharist.
One shouldn’t underestimate the effect of all this on the monks. All the members of the Order, from the Grand Master down to the humblest helper, went to church daily. This was at the heart of their lives. Every time they went to Mass, they were reminded that Jesus Christ, who came to them in Holy Communion, also gave them an example of washing feet. They received Christ’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion, and allowed this to transform their lives and to strengthen them as they cared for others. In their practical lives in the Hospital, they tried to follow the Lord’s example of humble service.
I recently heard a wonderful story, which is a modern equivalent to this. In Kenya, there is a main road between Mombassa on the coast and Nairobi inland. There are many accidents, especially to people who get knocked down crossing the road. There is no government ambulance service in Kenya, and injured people are usually left beside the road. Mid-way between the two cities lives a Christian African man, who belongs to St John Ambulance. Every day he gets out his bicycle, puts on his armband with the white Maltese Cross of St John, and sets off to find the injured. When he arrives, he gives them what first aid he can, flags down passing cars and persuades drivers to take the injured people to hospital. Day after day he is out and about, pedalling up and down the road, bringing comfort to the injured, doing whatever he can to help.
I think that Blessèd Gerard and the first little group of monks who pledged themselves in the Church of St John the Baptist in Jerusalem to care for the sick, whoever they were, would immediately recognize this man as one of their own. They, and he, provide us with an example of the message of the Upper Room, faithfully lived out. We need Holy Communion – it is intended by Jesus to be the regular spiritual nourishment of those who follow him. But it is also intended to change those who receive it. Into whatever sphere our lives take us, we are to follow Christ and to wash feet – or whatever is the equivalent – not for any reward, but because Christ, the Good Shepherd, the Lord of the Eucharist, wants to use us, so that he may reach out to others.