JOHN ETHELSTAN CHEESE (d. 1958)
Priest, wanderer for Christ in the Middle East

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. (Luke 12:6)
God and Father of all, you care for the smallest of sparrows and invit e men and women to simple trust in your providence. In your love pour upon us a measure of the gentle, trusting, open spirit you gave so generously to your servant Ethelstan, and build up your Church in holiness and faith. Grant this through
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

John Ethelstan Cheese first arrived in Jerusalem in 1912, a quiet curate on sick leave.  He died aboard ship in the Mediterranean in 1958, worn out by years of travel, mostly on foot, a wandering pilgrim to the last.  He was spartan, quixotic, unpredictable, yet deceptively resilient and dauntless beneath his gentle exterior.  He
blessed all who knew him with his Christian fidelity even when he challenged them with his utter simplicity of life or exasperated them with his idiosyncracies.

Ethelstan Cheese represents many other holy and humble members of our Church. Others have been more able, more expert, more predictable than he.  Few have been more dogged, more self-effacing,
more spartan.  Constance Padwick wrote, “he was one of God’s mystery men”.  Truly he travelled light. Money was nothing to him, nor ease, nor fame.  With stooping gate and a tawny beard, he was looked on as a wali, or holy man, as he walked over the countryside.   Ain Anoub in Lebanon, Hargeisa in Somalia, Aden, Mombasa, Cairo, Muscat, Damascus, Addis Ababa – wherever it might be – he came and went, happy to fill a gap, to act as chaplain, to befriend the needy, to share his faith and compassion.  His way disconcerted some officials.  But ordinary people loved him for his transparent honesty and his rugged gentleness.

Of such was, and is, the kingdom of heaven. Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. (Matthew 6:34)