God's Own Garden

This is a Guest Post by Ruth Illman (Authorised Local Minister for Broughton; Scawby & Redbourne; and Hibaldstow parishes)

Isn’t God’s created world just wonderful and glorious? This week I have watched two new kestrels calling to their parent whilst they follow and learn to hunt, last week I timed it right to watch the barn owl glide across the field and today I have spotted a stray pansy which has flowered in our lawn – a bright splash of yellow on a bed of green. A little bit of hope - how did that get there!

As I drive to church I have noticed the wonderful geraniums, the neat borders and the abundance of colour from well-kept gardens in Scawby. It all looks so colourful and tended with love and care.

My joy is however in our Church Yard at Scawby which is indeed God's own garden. It is far from pristine but it is abundant. Here for me is the cycle of rogation and harvest, planting and reaping, life cycles and natural development. I like the idea that there will always be flowers on the graves through natural growth.

To appreciate the churchyard you have to be prepared to look carefully. A pristine lawn is a work of art, a meadow or woodland is a creation.

Last year Lindsay, Carol and I counted and identified 49 different species of wild flowers between cuts, this year with longer cuts and allowing growth that number has started to increased. We plan to chart where everything is, identify the different grasses, lichens and trees and work on the insect, bird and animal life.

The plan is that the borders between the yews, the triangle of grass in front of church, under the bench and in front of the flower beds be kept short. The remainder be allowed to ‘meadow’ and kept under review. The objective is to encourage growth of wild flowers native to Scawby. Growth in the wooded area is less prolific apart from spring when we have a splendid display of aconites and snowdrops. These are usually followed by bluebells. The aim here is to increase the woodland plants by taking advantage of seeding from violets, and red and white campion growing locally.

I have noticed the graves which are visited and will make sure these are available.

A few people have mentioned the ivy and nettles to me. The ivy needs to be managed but at the moment provides ground cover and wildlife habitats, it protects seeds and it too flowers. The aim is to keep the graves stones free from it although it does protect some from further weathering. We are keeping a check on the nettles – the nettle flowers are pale green and the plant is much loved by butterflies but we don’t need it in abundance. Likewise the ground elder has its place but we need to introduce robust plants which can compete. We do not plan to introduce anything which will ‘take over’ e.g. balsam.

It would be wonderful if more people became involved. You might do a bug search, twilight bird watch, plant count, make some bug hotel’s or just realise how much of God’s creation you are missing in this wildlife haven.

Finally – our God's own Garden is a tranquil and prayerful place to sit to be at one with our maker. Enjoy.

Ruth.

[For more on this topic visit https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/}

Post-truth and the failure of leadership

Here's the sermon from Scawby's Civic Service yesterday.  The Bible readings were Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Colossians 1:11-20.


I said at Broughton's Civic Service last month that this year has been a very interesting one politically – I think that statement is even more true a month onwards! Whatever your opinion might be of the referendum, the party political leadership elections, the US Presidential election; whatever your opinion might be of these, they've certainly got people thinking and talking about politics in a way we haven't for many years. And this is no bad thing. It's also spawned new words, Brexit is the Collins dictionary word of the year and the Oxford English Dictionary chose 'post-truth' for theirs.

According to the OED 'post-truth' is an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.’ Some have used this word to describe politicians who they claim knowingly lie or mislead in order to get votes. On this definition, although the word may be fairly recent the symptom it describes certainly isn't. Almost everyone who is putting forward a point of view will at the very least selectively use information to reinforce their arguments. I will probably do it during this sermon!

The OED description of the word as being the influence of emotions over facts perhaps points to a more general feeling of having had enough of experts maybe because there are very few objective facts, only lies, damn lies and statistics. In a situation of contradictory 'facts', the only way to decide seems to be on the basis of what you feel. But even this is not new. The story of the second half of the 20th Century onwards is that story of a gradual decline in a belief in absolutes, particularly in a belief in absolute truth. The contemporary creed and mantra becomes “this is my truth, show me yours.” At its best this encourages us to listen to other people's point of view, but increasingly it is being used to silence anyone who dares to disagree with whatever the current cultural agenda is.

It is debatable how far 'post-truth' explains the political events of this year, but another factor seems to have been an anti-establishment vote, or a protest against the current political elite by people who feel forgotten or ignored. There is a sense among some people that the leaders of the world have failed to lead properly. This finds an echo in our reading from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. In it God describes the leaders of Israel as being shepherds who have failed to look after and care for their sheep. Worse than that, they have destroyed and scattered them. God's solution to the problem was to come himself to lead the Israelites, to gather them back, tend them and rule them wisely and with justice.

Fast forward 650 years and we have St Paul writing to the Colossian church about 30 years after Jesus death and resurrection. He describes to them Jesus the Good Shepherd in whom all the fullness of God dwells and who is now king of all things in heaven and on earth having rescued us by that same death and and resurrection. Jesus therefore is the pattern for how all those in authority should behave, whether they are international or national leaders, local officials, parish councillors, community leaders, employers, teachers, sports coaches, parents or anyone else who has responsibility for others. Jesus the king came not to be served but to serve; to gather, to tend, and to rule wisely and with justice but ultimately he came to give his life for us.

If this is a post-truth world where leaders could and should be leading better, the answer is not to to stick two fingers up to the establishment by voting for the equivalent of Boaty McBoat Face. Instead we should look to imitate and follow Jesus the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Ruler of rulers, the Leader of leaders, the Servant of servants, the only one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Paris and the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds

This is the sermon from yesterday's Scawby Civic Service.
(Readings: Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24–30 and 36-43)

With the recent news about the attacks in Paris, the reading from Matthew's gospel seems more relevant than usual. Jesus describes a world where good and bad co-exist, where good people and bad people live and grow together. A world his first hearers would have recognised and one that is still recognisable today. But that is one of the points that Jesus is trying to make: that the world will be mixed until the 'end of the age' that is until he comes again.

But why doesn't God do something about it? That was a question that was asked in Jesus' day and is still asked today. Why don't we do something about it, why don't we take matters into our own hands? is the question the servants in Jesus' story ask; why don't we seek revenge and justice? is rhetoric we hear all over the media. Jesus, however, counsels caution. Don't pull up the weeds he says, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.” The problem with us taking revenge is that our judgement is imperfect, and we are likely to do more harm than good. Those who worked on the land in Jesus' time would have understood the dilemma in his story well. The weeds and the wheat were almost indistinguishable until it came to harvest time – trying to sort them out before harvest time risked destroying good crops by mistaking them for bad crops as well as by disturbing their roots.

This year we commemorated the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. It's very easy to tell who your enemy is when they're wearing a different uniform and speaking French. Nowadays, however, the threat we face from people wishing to destroy our way of life can often come from people who have been brought up amongst us. In seeking to weed out threats from so-called extremists, we risk vilifying innocent people as well as destroying the roots of good community growth. On top of that, legislation to outlaw 'extremism' will have the consequence of stifling debate and free speech and demonising any view that differs from what the current trend is.

So much for our imperfect judgement, but what about God? Surely he could distinguish between wheat and weeds? Well, Jesus assures us that God will act, that justice will be done, that evil will be punished and good will be rewarded – but all in the fullness of time. Jesus encourages us not just to have confidence that God will sort it all out, but that he will do it when the time is right. Just as our judgement about right and wrong is imperfect, so is our judgement about timing – we want it all sorted out now, but as Paul says in his letter to the Romans, although we and the whole of creation is groaning in expectation of when this will happen, we must wait patiently.

As we look at the world around us, at the seemingly never-ending and ever-increasing violence and horror, it is tempting to despair and think that there is no hope. But Jesus told his parable to explain about the kingdom of God. He wants us to understand that even when all around seems wrong and evil seems to be in the ascendant, that the kingdom of heaven is still to be found. That no matter what happens, the kingdom of heaven will be victorious in the end. And that each of us is invited to be part of it, to be those who are 'people of the kingdom', 'children of God' who are led by the Spirit of God. In a world where good and bad co-exist we have a choice – are we going to be weeds or are we going to be wheat?