Rectory Ramblings…

“can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”        (Matthew 6:27-29)

Hasn’t the recent dry weather been great? (Unless you are a farmer or gardener). After what must be one of the longest wettest and most dismal winters that I can remember we had one of the driest springs that I can remember. If like me you haven’t capitulated and resorted to watering already, then your seeds and seedlings may have struggled to survive and thrive, As I write it is finally raining properly for the first time in months, Of course the vegetable plot will catch up with where it should be. Nature is good like that - whatever the weather does, she always catches up, even if it will mean buying some bean plants to replace the seeds that didn’t germinate. 

May has been an odd and exhausting month for me. The timing of Easter has forced my five Annual Church Meetings into a much smaller window than usual. This was coupled with more church administration and management than is normal, So, having (more or less) dealt with much of the administrative and legal stuff of church management, I’m looking forward to a much more stable and normal June, in which I can finally turn my attention back to what I should be doing - being a parish priest! And I I’m looking forward to a great summer, and a time of real growth both in my own garden and in the spiritual garden of the church. There are many verses and passages in the Bible that remind us life is seasonal and everything averages out in the end. My opening scripture this month reminds us that God has everything under control. My closing scripture reminds us that if we place our trust in God rather than our own efforts, then we will find God’s blessing in the middle of it all. But it does also rely on us slowing down long enough for our roots to drink deeply of God’s life-giving stream. For activists like me, this is a lesson I constantly have to keep relearning, and an attitude of contemplation and resting in God is something I have to work hard to cultivate, but I find it’s worth it when I do.   

“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.”      (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

                                Revd Eddie