Tribute to Revd Dr Brian Beck, in Thanksgiving for his 70 years as a Preacher

Brian, there are many reasons why we might want to give thanks for different aspects of your ministry today, but we are here to celebrate your particular calling as a preacher among us – and I suspect you would not welcome departures from that brief, as tempting as they are!

I first heard Brian preach a mere 50 years ago when I was a student at Wesley House. It was a time of ecumenical optimism and experiment, and in 1972 the Cambridge Theological Federation was just coming into being. As a result, Wesley House had begun to meet regularly with our Anglican colleagues at Westcott and Ridley for meals, worship and ritual humiliation on the sports field. There were many positive outcomes of that relationship, not least the long-lasting friendships across denominational traditions, but at times the idealism was tried and tested by the practicalities of living more closely together.

One challenging issue became the timing of morning prayer.

That set the High Church Anglicans, who insisted that prayer should be the very first thing we did together every morning, against those of us who were still getting used to the idea of daily chapel prayers at all and were adamant that non-conformists needed to fortify the body with breakfast before ever attempting to fortify the soul. It may be, of course, that this was all really a proxy debate for deeper differences about theology and liturgical tradition, but it was around the timing (pre- or post-breakfast) that the discussion raged.

And it was in this context, on the occasion of a Federation service at All Saints in Jesus Lane, that Brian preached to the assembled student body. His inspired choice of text was from Romans 14 where Paul addresses the divided community about the propriety or not of eating food sacrificed to idols and the responsibilities of the so called ‘stronger’ believers towards the sensitivities of the weaker.

In his inimitable style, Brian offered a masterly exposition of the text itself and its context before moving seamlessly into reflections on the challenges of community living and shared ecumenical worship. In the process, he alerted us to the dangers of anyone seeing themselves as ‘earlier than thou’ and no doubt balanced that quip with one addressed to the later camp – though that’s something I’ve conveniently forgotten. So it was that out of clear exegesis and exposition, the whole discussion was given a new frame of reference and the nature of the ensuing conversation changed for the better.

And that one sermon epitomises for me the qualities I suspect we have all experienced here in the Circuit: qualities that have also been widely acclaimed wherever Brian has preached – be it in a College or Conference, massive Cathedral or village chapel; in diverse contexts where the Church has been addressing major issues or individuals have been struggling to sustain faith and discipleship in light of daily experience.

For here is preaching:

Tribute to Revd Dr Brian Beck

Rooted in sound scholarship, not least biblical study, but accessible to all

Meticulously prepared, but delivered with warmth and that characteristic wry humour

Consoling or challenging as occasion demands, but always enlightening and thought-provoking,

Attentive to pastoral and practical considerations, but always encouraging its hearers to expand their horizons beyond the boundaries of inherited piety or convention.

Unfailingly centred on the good news of the Gospel, but also enriched by the best Methodist traditions of prayer, practice and hymnody

Evidently memorable – there are not that many sermons I remember at all, let alone over 50 years later – and transformative in the lives of both individuals and communities.

For even that one example I quote had a far wider impact that simply informing discussions of a college timetable.

Within the Federation it exemplified the best of Methodist preaching and whetted the appetite of Anglican ordinands – often nurtured on the ten-minute homily – for more substantive fare.

And for those of us who had already grown up in the Methodist tradition, it modelled the art to which we were aspiring – and helped shape and sustain some of us in our own preaching for many years to come.

Brian, I’m sure there are many others here today who wish they had opportunity to speak from their own experience and pay tribute to the importance to their own lives of the worship you have led and the faith you have shared over the years…

…But I’m sure I do speak for everyone in expressing our gratitude to you and our gratitude to God for the seven decades in which you have served so faithfully and effectively as one of Mr. Wesley’s preachers.

We are greatly in your debt.

Stuart Jordan

Wesley Church, Cambridge

23 January 2022