This blog is not a turkey!

But I gather some folk have ended on this page while looking for a game of getting the turkey across the farmyard. I'd hate you to be disappointed, so it's at http://www.ukturkeys.co.uk/fun-stuff/gobbler/
Enjoy but it is addictive!

Food Awards and Racing Cars

Wednesday evening I had the privilege of being at the BBC's Food and Farming awards. It was wonderful to hear about all the good and innovative things that have been happening agriculture & the food industry. A number of "ordinary" or rather "extra-ordinary" were honoured for their contributions by all sorts of celebrities. I was encouraged by all the good things that are happening to help reconnect food producers with the customers.

By way of a contrast on Friday I had a trip round the Red Bull Racing Factory, where they design, develop and build Formula 1 cars. The technology involved is fascinating. Good luck to the team and I hope they start winning soon.

Direct Line They must be joking!!!

I have two dogs, and since they were puppies they have been insured with DirectLine. As the dogs have got older the premiums have gone up and up, and the excess has got higher and higher.
One of the dogs now has epilepsy and dementia. DirectLine won't pay for the treatment of the epilepsy. They say we should have claimed when he first started showing mild signs a couple of years ago. We did not, so tough luck on us.
As for the dementia, they will pay for that but every time we get more pills from the vet we need to fill in another claim form telling them what they already know and even then they won't pay unless we get the vet to fill in a fresh form each time as well. What a bureaucratic nonsense! They know what's the matter with the dog. They know what treatment the vet has advised. They know we're buying the pills from the vet - we can produce receipts. So why on earth they need to have everyone waste their time with a new form very month is a complete nonsense. The vet has got better things to do with his time. So have I. You would think that DirectLine would have as well.

Reactions to pilgrims

Something I noticed when walking to Santiago & Finnisterre was that there were perhaps three different ways that people responded to a pilgrim.

As I was walking out of Porto there was an elderly woman who was clearly evidently thrilled that I was on my way to Santiago. Her total lack of English and my not much better Portuguese couldn't stop her conveying her pleasure that here was someone walking from her country to Santiago. That same reaction occurred later in the walk. A group of men working on the road were clearly thrilled. The presence of my rucksack protected my back from the over exuberant pats on the back they used to express their delight. Somehow my walking through their country was important to them and meant that they mattered.

At the other end of the scale of reactions was that of a market trader in Padron. By the time I arrived the market was over and they were packing up to go home. Among all the mess was a long cardboard tube - it had probably had a roll of cloth on it. The trader picked it up, used it like a pilgrim staff, and limped along with words that sounded like "So perigrino" - "I'm a pilgrim". It's probably a good job that my Spanish is nowhere near good enough to respond to the mickey taking. I would have liked to respond "Yes you are, from birth to death. How's your pilgrimage going?!" Just as well my Spanish is virtually non-existent!

A third response I encountered was a look of incredulity and non-comprehension - this particularly from people for whom life appeared to be hard. The look on their faces seemed to be saying "Life is hard enough as it is, why make it more difficult???" I found myself wondering whether they might not be right. The last time I saw people sleeping in bunks as in the hostels was years ago when I did a placement as a volunteer in an approved school for young criminals! Is going on a pilgrimage a self indulgent way for the comfortable to rough it for a week or so. Looking at the register in one hostel I saw the professions listed by the users as "Teachers", "Professors" (but they were French so probably only teachers anyway) "Lawyers", "Ships Captain", and of course "Chaplain". I saw no sign of "bricklayers", "labourers" or "carpenters". Perhaps pilgrimage is a whim of the comfortable.

Am I (becoming) a grumpy old man?

I've just come back from doing the Porto to Santiago camino, followed by on to Finisterre and all in all it was an excellent experience, BUT I found myself wondering whether the welcome of the church(es) to pilgrims was as it might be.

In my mind I found myself contrasting the welcome that visitors get to cathedrals I know in the UK with that offered by the cathedral in Santiago. UK cathedrals frequently have "welcomers" - lay people, often retired, whose role is to greet people arriving and offer them a little basic information or answer straightforward questions. There was no such welcome In Santiago the building was left to speak for itself - which is fine for those who know what they're seeing & where they're going but not so good for those who are less informed. And the only notices in the cathedrals we a list of "NO"s, NO flash photography, No use of tripods (why ever not - they're hardly going to disturb someone's prayer?!?) NO mobile phones, NO...

And in the Pilgrim Office (why on earth is it UPSTAIRS - after people have walked 200+km, why not make it easier for them and have it downstairs?) when I found it - I didn't know which door of the cathedral it was next to - there seemed little or no interest in whether I had had a good journey, why I'd done the journey... It was just fill the form in and leave a donation. I had been going to ask whether I, as a non-catholic, could receive Communion at the pilgrim mass the next day but didn't bother to ask as I doubted that the girl in the office could cope with the question. I hoped to see someone in the Cathedral that I could ask, but in spite of spending a lot of time in it, saw no one I felt confident to ask. The only option would have been to ask at one of the confessionals but that's not what they're there for.

On further reflection I found myself thinking about the churches along the camino. The vast majority were firmly locked & so no opportunity to go in to pray/look. It seemed ironic as a number seemed to have been built along the camino for the use of pilgrims, but the pilgrims are locked out. In Tui I arrived at siesta time and so the Cathedral was closed - that would be unthinkable in the UK.

I found myself contrasting all that with the welcome given to walkers by one church in this country where there is tea, coffee and a kettle left out for visitors to use.

So does the church need to up its game and think about the needs of pilgrims, or am I (becoming) a grumpy old man?

Mucky boots

Monday saw (in theory) the start of my sabbatical. Part of which will include a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. I fly to Porto and walk from there to the alleged burial site of St James some 150 miles to the north.

As part of my preparation I have been doing more walking than usual. Yesterday (Tuesday) I walked to Broadwas Church for their morning communion service. In days gone, nobody would have thought twice about walking in with mucky boots, but nowadays a carpet covers the floor & so I took my boots off as I went in. There is, after all, a precedent for taking shoes off on holy ground.

The reading for the service was Psalm 139 " Oh Lord, you've searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise... you are familiar with all my ways..."
That was good news as whilst I had checked out the footpaths on a map before walking down to Broadwas there were bits that were unfamiliar that I did n't know. There will be more unfamiliar bits between Porto and Santiago, so the psalm is rather reassuring.

Thinking inside the box

This week I was leading a harvest assembly for a primary school. There was, I told them, something very special in a box I had brought.
The children could tell that it was quite heavy and rattled when shaken. It would, I told them, if you did the right things with it, produce

• a woolly jumper,
• a drink of orange juice
• a story book
• an apple
• a cuddly sheep

Could they guess what was in the box?

They came up with

• credit cards - but they don't produce anything but debt
• money - but that doesn't produce anything, it just enables people to buy what others have produced
  
• love - a pretty good guess at many school assemblies but that's not heavy or rattles when you shake it
• a statue of Jesus - Well if the answer isn't "love" then usually it's "Jesus" but not today!!!

Have you worked out what was in the box yet???

It was soil, dirt, earth, compost. Not something we usually value but the basis for supplying most of our needs. In the Genesis 2 account of God creating man, He makes Adam from the Adamah, Compo from the compost, and tells Compo to serve and keep the earth from which he is created.

That "serving and keeping" of the earth is generally done for us by farmers.

Thanks to Exeter

Tuesday & Wednesday of last week I was invited to lead a workshop "Changing Countryside Changing Church" for Exeter Diocese's clergy conference. It was in Cornwall on the Lizard peninsula.

The workshop produced some interesting insights about the role of church and clergy in a very changed countryside.

The church role was:-

• Relationship building
• · Community cohesion
• · Worship God
• · Proclaim gospel
• · Recovery of medieval attitude of multifunctional building
• · Work with children
• · Pastoral care
• · Celebrate festivals
• · Hope bearers
• · Stable presence
• · Agent for change
• · Generous listening
• · Work/engage with the community
• · Saltiness
• · Is there a prior question – What sort of community will/should the gospel produce in this place?

The clergy role was:-

• · Enabler/encourager of others
• · Back stop
• · discipler
• · Expectation to be do-er remains and should be challenged
• · More Pauline – he exercised a remote oversight by letter
• · Spiritual oversight
• · Mini bishops
• · Valuing each church
• · Out of church buildings
• · Nourish people of God
• · Identifying new ways of being church
• · Occasional offices
• · Visible presence, being there
• · Interpreting God’s perspective for whole community

The list for the role of clergy is a formidable one and reflects something of the transition from the old way of doing things. Visible presence, occasional offices, Nourish people of God could all sit with a 1950s role. The move to Mini-bishop, Encourager/enabler of others, Interpreter of God’s perspective for whole community may cause tension. It will certainly will certainly require personal spiritual resources and highlights the need for clergy to be people of reflection, study and prayer.

But for me the main joy was going for a glorious walk on the coastal path in the Cornish sunshine, so here are some more photos of that!

Good enough to throw away

In a bizarre way these carrots are a victim of the bad weather.
Waterlogged soils mean that it hasn't been possible to harvest them. They now grown too big to meet the supermarket specification. They're healthy, nutritious, taste good, cook well, good colour... but they don't fit the spec.
So the field will be sprayed with weed killer and £3,000 worth of carrots written off. You wouldn't believe there are people dieing of malnutrition in the developing world and concern about rising food prices in the UK.
And the pea pods have occasional spots on them so the supermarket has rejected.

Dramatic pictures...

The water got into the cellar. It just about got into the bar. Selfish 4x4 drivers enjoying going through the water created bow waves that didn't help. And one silly driver of a Saab got the posh leather upholstery wet, but it was a loan car from a garage so perhaps he didn't care.


However the significant problem with the weather is less dramatic than the pictures. Prolonged persistent rain has left crops standing in fields un-harvested, just gently rotting. Added to that cereal prices are down on last year and production costs are significantly up. It's a difficult time for farmers - again.

Cause for concern

The concerned expression on Bishop John's face comes from listening to Margaret and Tony explain abut their farm.
They'd long since given up milking and the cattle in the background of the picture are the last that will be on the farm, at least in Margaret and Tony's time. The relentless scourge of TB has ground them down so there's no point in carrying on. It's not just them. Neighbouring farms are giving up cattle. The infection in wildlife is such as it can't be controlled.

Bishop John's visit was part of a day getting first hand experience of agricultural and rural issues in the diocese. He saw something of the "Go West Teme Valley" project (follow the link on the right), visiting Broadwas church and listening to their Listening Post.
After Tony and Margaret's he visited Worcester Livestock market.
Lunch was at the Young Farmers Centre at Hawford where he met "movers and shakers" from Worcestershire's rural and agricultural community. It was an excellent networking opportunity for all, never mind the bishop being there!

In the afternoon Julia Page Warwickshire College Vice Principal and Dean of the Landbased faculty gave us a whistle stop tour round the Pershore campus. The bishop's schedule was tight!

The day finished with a chance to met members of the chaplaincy committee over a cup of tea at Chris Bennett's farm. Thanks to him and Alice for their hospitality

Grass boards, boats and lawnmowers

One of the advantages of having a teenager staying is that you do things you wouldn't normally do. We had my niece staying with us and so for the first time in my life I've been grass boarding. Yes, all that safety equipment IS necessary. My ribs are starting to recover!

We also went to the brine baths at Droitwich. It is as salt as the Dead Sea, and is supposed to be very good for bruising and muscle strain. A good place to go after my escapades on the grass board.

We had a motor boat on the Avon from Evesham. Working the locks was a challenge with painful ribs.

We also had an afternoon when the Young Farmers when they were lawn mower racing. They were very competitive and how they kept some of the machines going showed great engineering skills.

Flower pots or concrete bollards?

I've just been for a week's holiday in Budapest enjoying the sunshine, the spas, the F1 grand prix, the restaurants...
I was struck by the similarity of the Hungarian Parliament building with the OK's parliament. Both are grand historic buildings. Both are on the edge of a river. Both have come to symbolise something of their nation.
But there's a subtle difference. Round the UK parliament there are defensive concrete bollards to prevent terrorist attacks. Round th Hungarian parliament there are wooden tubs with flowers growing in them.
It raises questions about what it is that we in the UK have done to make terrorism a threat.

Radical hospitality?

One of the "buzz" phrases at last weeks assembly (see sorry no photos) was "radical hospitality." The discussion group I was in asked what was wrong with ordinary hospitality.
The hospitality shown to the summer outing of the Agricultural & Rural Chaplaincy Committee (and friends) was first rate, be it "radical" or ordinary.
We had a tour round Croome Landscape Park and something of Capability Brown's work was explained to us. We were privileged to have a visit into Croome Court. Then the Baxter family entertained us to a wonderful supper.
It was all hospitality of the highest order.

Sorry no photos

I forgot to take any photos, so just text on this post.

This weekend just gone was the Diocesan Assembly, a get together of around 400 people from the Diocese of Worcester - some clergy, others not and a mixture of ages, though there were probably more grey heads than any other colour!

The weekend was a coming together to think about what makes a healthy church. The key theme that seemed to be highlighted was about inclusion. How inclusive is our church? One of the speakers talked about a time when she lived as a homeless person. The welcome she got in the churches she visited that way was very different from the welcome she got when she visited in her usual role. She's the churches' bishop!!!

For me, inclusion raises questions about transformation. If someone (whether a homeless person or a bishop) is "included" in a church then who needs to change? The person? The Church? Both? What causes the change? Are there limits to the change? Can the person become unrecognizable from who they were before? Or can the church become unrecognizable? Can a church become so changed that it is no longer a church?

So unanswerable questions, but the real joys of the weekend was meeting people - building relationships with people I'd met before and meeting new people, and some of the worship - particularly the calmness of morning prayer.

But the real highlight is the story told by a colleague of separating two dogs that were fighting, but that's not appropriate for publication.

The Good, the Great and the spineless

Sunday just gone I was at Peterborough Cathedral. A friend from when I had been in Northamptonshire was being ordained deacon along with 15 others. Those being priested had been done the day before, and just as well because it was crowded as it was. Strange that stories of full cathedrals don't get into the media! Every reason to rejoice at all these good people taking this step in ministry

The Friday before I'd been given tickets to the Royal Show. It was a shame but understandable that livestock numbers were down because of bluetongue. To our surprise in among the crowd and with surprisingly little security was Prince Charles.

If the newly ordained are the good, & Charles is reckoned to be among the great, who is the spineless? Well it's got to be Hilary Benn and his pathetic announcement that he is doing nothing effective to prevent the needless slaughter of 40,000 cattle and all the stress that brings to farmers.

What can we learn from the army?

That's the army as in military not the army as in Church Army or Salvation Army.

A couple of days ago I was at a training event and one of the participants before he'd been ordained had served in the army. I found it interesting discussing patterns and styles of leadership with him and the insights that he brought from serving in the army. I also found it interesting to contrast his approach with the approach of a colleague I had known some years ago who also before ordination had served in the army, though several years earlier.

That earlier colleague ran his villages (he was vicar of about five different villages) as he would have run a military operation. The vicarage he referred to as HQ. He issued orders to the troops (the laity) and the expected those orders to be carried out. He was quite clear that he was in charge and that what he expected to be done would be done. His was the authority. He gave the orders. If he had too much to do, he delegated to others but it remained his task.

I found that an interesting contrast with the approach of the person who had served in the military more recently. The soldiers he worked with and was in command of were expected to use their initiative and training for whatever task they collectively were dealing with. They knew what had to be achieved and it was up to each of them to get on and do it without having every step was spelled out to them. They were expected to know what others within the platoon were doing and to do whatever was necessary to complement their colleagues work.

I find it interesting to see the change in the way that the army exercises leadership. In the church we pay lipservice to the idea that all called into ministry by virtue of their baptism but all too often we seem to act as though orders have to be given from HQ and nothing can be done by the laity unless and until that told to by someone with a dog collar.

The army has changed its way of exercising leadership. Can the church?

Do what you feel like

That was the advice given to me by my doctor. He confirms that I have pneumonia, but a "crackly" chest could have been much more serious. If I take things easy I should just get better over the next four to six weeks.
So what do I feel like doing?????

What's been happining

Somehow things have been slightly chaotic since my last posting.

I had a fascinating day in Stonesfield learning how a Community Land Trust had been able to play a part in ensuring that villages vitality by making housing available to local people at affordable rents. By keeping the decision making local they have been able to ensure housing that met the architectural & community needs and have been able to be versatile in allocating the housing.

I was, as usual, very impressed by the Young Farmers County rally. When young people are caricatured as being a "problem" it is good to see all that YF do and the positive contribution that young people make.

I've been a little off colour last week & my GP has signed me off work

sheep and stones

Two Sundays ago the readings were about Jesus as a shepherd. At Cotheridge and Wilden we thought about first century Palestinian shepherds who didn't have the the advantages of hedges and walls & who had to lead their sheep from pasture to pasture. It was a very much closer relationship & the role of the shepherd was very tough. One commentator recently said it's bad enough the many modern western Christians have cuddly images of sheep. It's even worse that they have cuddly images of shepherds. Jesus & cuddly don't go together!

Last week was a certain amount of reviewing where I am - a meeting with my spiritual director, another with my line manager. The week also included meetings about the Three Counties Show, celebrating different ethnic groups, preparing bids for funding from the English Rural Development Plan and being after dinner speaker at Tenbury NFU annual dinner.

This Sunday I was at Bishampton and Knightwick and we focussed on the reading in 1Peter where he talks about being built together as living stones. It always strikes me as a wonderful image of both individuality (& that we're all different) and community (that we belong together) having different complementary roles.

walking with

The gospel reading for last Sunday was the disciples on the road to Emmaus discovering that in their confusion it had been Jesus walking with them. This is the philosophy of Farm Crisis Network, and formed the basis of my sermons at Knightwick chapel and at Catshill.
Ironically I have had occasion to phone PC World rather a lot recently. They tell me my motherboard has failed & have sold me a new computer. So far I am distinctly underwhelmed by Vista!
PC World's automated impersonal phone message greets you with "PC World, with you every step of the way..." before inviting you to press button 1, 2, 3.... and eventually speaking to a human being who refers you to a website or another helpline.
I'm sure Jesus, being with the disciples every step of the way, was much more help!

more bits and pieces

Sunday I was taking a baptism service in Dudley. That was fine in theory, but

• we we're out for a meal with friends on Saturday night making us later than we might otherwise have been
  
• we got home to find that one of the dogs had got a dose of the trots & the floor needed cleaning. He had us up 3 more times in the night.
  
• The clocks changed and we lost an hour.
• Dudley is an hour away
• I hadn't seen the order of service I was using
• The heating in the church wasn't working...

In the event it all worked out well. For the sermon I talked with the baptism families about what they wanted their children to grow into. A part from the inevitable "rich" and the rather obscure "a biker" it was things like healthy, happy, lovable, content... This, I suggested was all about wholeness and what the risen Jesus in the morning's gospel reading was offering to the disciples was "shalom", wholeness and so much more than the rather ineffectual word used in most translations of "peace". That is what the risen Jesus still offers.

The rest of the week was supposed to be a bit quieter.

Monday I had a meeting with colleagues in the local churches. That evening we had friends visit. She's been off work with what her GP would like to call OFSTEDitis. The number of people in education I meet who have been badly damaged by successive governments' rather pathetic attempts to raise classroom standards is frightening. I wish someone would do some detailed research into how many teachers have significant problems with stress.

Tuesday we celebrated the feast of St Joseph - normally 19 March it was moved this year because of the date of Easter. April Fool's day is appropriate. What Mary had to tell Joseph, "An angel told me I'm going to have a baby and the Father is God," is significantly less plausible than many April Fools. Yesterday evening there was an NFU meeting

Today I caught up with some correspondence, went to the livestock market and had a meeting about delivering mental health support to people in rural areas.

The good news is that the dog's digestion has improved.
The bad news is the cough/cold that I struggled with over Easter and thought I was rid of has come back.

taken by surprise

The numbers of people who came to "Countrytastic" was more than I think anyone anticipated. Expecting around 1,000 for this first year there must have been about two and half times that number - and it seems that all of them wanted to do some of the activities we had arranged.
We, or rather they, ground barley into flour and made barley bread. They decorated eggs - about 400. They iced hot cross buns - another 400. They made haroset - working with children a recipe that is supposed to end up looking like mud has to be a winner. They made mince pies - the original shape of mince pies was manger shaped. They saw eggs hatching pout.
The day was exhausting, as one volunteer said, "I was waiting for lull, but they just kept coming."
The place was simply full with children. The day was part of the Year of Food and Farming and this was an excellent way to help make links with food and faith.




This photo isn't out of focus - it's blurred to protect the children's identity on the net! But you can still see how busy it was.

clergy clapping out????

Wednesday the local clergy chapter had a quiet day at Glasshampton Monastery. It probably says something about clergy work load that mid afternoon , most of us were have a snooze - or perhaps a "power nap".
That same issue of busyness was part of Bishop David's sermon at the Maundy Thursday Communion. There is a screen saver that says "Jesus is coming............ Look Busy!"
That's a mistake. Jesus is coming.... Look loved, look freed, look whole.
He's absolutely right of course, but easier said than done. Coming home from the quiet day, I discovered that one of the dogs had collapsed & needed a trip to the vet. Thursday after the Communion service I discovered that the flour mill I had arranged to pick up wasn't where it ought to have been & so there was a 100 mile round trip to collect it.
And now I'm arguing with a cold.

Perhaps if I were more organised

I would write this up more regularly! Since the last post activities included

• a meeting of Diocesan Synod. Believe it or not this was useful and enjoyable! We've inched closer to having a Diocesan environmental strategy. We're moving towards being a fairtrade diocese. This was Bishop John's first time at a Worcester Diocesan Synod and his presidential address outlined a vision for the church that resonated with me.
  
• the following day (morning) telling punters in the pew what had happened at synod and (evening) talking about farmers as those who care for the earth. They fulfill the mandate give to Adam in the Genesis 2 creation narrative
• a meeting trying to shape the way that European money is spent in Worcestershire
• a training session at the market for potential chaplaincy team members. Fascinating conversation with the auctioneer. What I hadn't realised is that when last year lamb and cattle prices had collapsed, prices for cull ewes (older sheep selling as mutton) had remained firmer. The reason being that cull ewes sell through halal slaughter houses. The supermarkets are not involved and there is genuine competition.
• held the Chaplaincy AGM
• been on a conference ab0out rural life and church. The item for concern is that we're talking about the same issues now as we were ten years ago - affordable housing, low paid agricultural jobs, withdrawal of services.... It makes you wonder what we've actually achieved in that period
• been to the market where people were actually quite cheerful!
• had a Sunday off from leading worship and went to the cathedral
  

Oh, and some silly beggar in an articulated lorry didn't read the weight restriction signs at the bottom of the road!

meanwhile back at the livestock market

prices are much better! Lamb at around 137p per kilo is nearly twice what it was before Christmas when things were really bad. Still much concern about the impact of TB and the Government's reluctance to grasp the nettle & allow a badger cull. Bluetongue movement restrictions still cause problems and worry about how that disease is likely to spread as the midges become more active.

engraved on His palms

Sunday was mothering Sunday. We gave out flowers as symbols of love, and we thought about God's promise
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget, I will not forget you! I have engraved you on the palms of my hands" (Isaiah 49 15ff)
We drew pictures on our hands to remind us that we are written on God's hands

been on holiday

Got back in the early hours of Saturday morning after a weeks holiday on Sal, one of the Cape Verde islands.
Basically it's a lump of the Sahara desert that's dumped in the Atlantic. As a place for sunshine, beaches and crystal clear seas it can't be beaten. The approach to life is very laid back - where else would you find the local bank up and running even though the building had no roof?


Unfortunately it has become the latest place for property developers, so the land by the beaches has been bought up for hotels. The breeze blocks and broken glass is the site for the new Hylton.
There's been no meaningful rain for the last 7 years which has devastated what little food production there had been on the island. What makes no sense to me is that one development includes a golf course, to be irrigated by water from a desalination plant. Why is it that money can be found to irrigate a golf course, but not for growing vegetables?

meetings - where would we be without them?

This morning was meeting with colleagues to plan the Church's presence at the Three Counties Show. Let's hope for weather like the picture! Do visit if you're at the show 13-15 June.
Next a meeting to scrutinise the chaplaincy budget for 2009.
Then planning for Countrytastic - a day for children about food and farming on 27 March at the Three Counties. Bookings already are encouraging. Our pitch will be food and faith - grinding grain to flour & making bread, decorating easter eggs, hot cross buns and IF we get the timing right, chickens hatching.
Yesterday evening was a chaplaincy committee meeting. All very good hearted, but generating lots of ideas and work.
tomorrow I start some time off. That means no computer!! And no blog updates for a day or so.

Early spring

Yesterday I was delivering a seminar to students at Cambridge on the state of the countryside. Before I left I walked the dogs in the local woods. After the recent sunshine, bluebells are just starting to come into flower.
As for the seminar, of the five students who should have been there, two failed to materialise. One of them it transpired was having a bath! At the risk of being a grumpy old man, I cannot imagine that behaviour being acceptable when I was a student.
Sunday I had preached on John chapter 3 including the famous "God so loved the world..." and I was reminded of the late Bill Westwood, former Bishop of Peterborough, who always emphasised that it was the World that God loves, not the Church. How much of our church agendas are about our concerns instead of being concerned for the world?

Busy!

A week since I posted. Sorry, it's been busy.


Last Wednesday I was at an NFU growers meeting. Various concerns, including a crazy policy by the Government to close the Seasonal Agricultural Workers scheme as part of their attempt to appear macho on immigration. SAWs workers are students, generally highly skilled, and almost inevitably return to their country of origin!

Thursday & Friday was a Faith at Work, Worcester Industrial Mission, team residential meeting at Holland House. That's the photo.

Saturday I was at a men's breakfast. The speaker had been a chaplain in the services. Some fascinating discussion about faith and war and attitudes to service personnel when the war is morally suspect

Sunday Little Witley church have as their Lent theme "Building Bridges for Christ" and I spokje about building bridges in the agricultural industry


Monday Churches Together in Malvern were looking at "The Rural Idyll and the Church"

Tuesday was a meeting of the BBC's Rural Affairs Committee, addressed by Helen Ghosh, permanent secretary at Defra. A fascinating, if scary insight into what that department is (and isn't) thinking.

Today, Worcester market. Prices down a little on last week but still well up on the disaster of a couple of months ago. It all depends on the strength of the £, and that's something producers have no control over.

Lent is about growth

Ash Wednesday (today) is the beginning of Lent. The word "Lent" is from the Old English word for "Spring" though somehow "If I ruled the world every day would be the first day of Lent" does have quite the same ring to it.
Spring is a time for growth and the beginning of Lent poses the question for us, what do we want to grow in by Easter? Do we want to grow emotionally, spiritually, intellectually or physically? what do we need to do to cause that growth?

Slightly fuzzy!

The photo is somewhat out of focus, but it was a slightly fuzzy evening! The Chaplaincy entered a team in a fund raising quiz - the proceeds going to RABI, a farming charity (follow the link).
To our great surprise we came third and the beer was our prize.

It's not just weather that's unpredictable!

Lamb prices were better this morning at the livestock market. I was there after my rescheduled visit to my spiritual director. There reasons for the better prices were the relative value of the Pound to the Euro and that a large ship full of New Zealand lamb didn't have the right paperwork to unload. Neither of those are things that farmers have any control over. It's not just weather that's unpredictable!
Yesterday was a meeting of deanery synod (that's a church government meeting) where there was considerable anxiety over levels of giving.

It's STILL behind you

Because of a mix up with the readings on Sunday I was preaching on the same readings as I had been the week before. So the sermon at Salwarpe and Wilden had much in common with the previous week's sermon at Martley.
Salwarpe (near Droitwich) is a lovely church in a quintessentially English setting. Wilden (near Stourport) is a rarity as all the windows are by Byrne Jones.

Burns Night

In the photo I'm hiding behind the candles. I was playing the mandolin. You can see my knees as I was wearing the kilt. Heritage of Scotland tartan - I reckon as one born and brought up north of the border & who had stood on the terraces of Murrayfield, Hampden Park and Easter Road I was entitled to claim Scotland's heritage.
Dave (the vicar) was playing guitar & singing. It was a good night celebrating the life of Robert Burns. I did the "Toast to the Lassies" in which I told the story of Tony Blair visiting an Edinburgh hospital and read Burn's "Address to the Unco Guid" - words of wisdom to those involved in church life in every generation

Country Way

Yesterday was a visit to the Arthur Rank Centre for an editorial meeting about "Country Way". The most recent edition had just come out & we were planning future editions and also how to increase circulation.
Yesterday evening I met with a small number of people interested in extending chaplaincy to Worcester Livestock Market

It's behind you

Last night I was at a pantomime my niece had a role in. No panto would be complete without the "It's behind you" routine.
That was just right for this morning's sermon. The gospel reading was that Jesus came preaching a message of repentance as the kingdom of heaven is near. Repentance is about turning round & facing the other way. The kingdom? It's behind you!

Meetings, cold and the market

This week has been meetings - all very important, but not that exciting for a blog!
Monday a meeting about research into polytunnels.
Tuesday meetings, with the Chaplaincy executive, World Development task group and Go West Teme Valley project.
Wednesday a regional West Midlands chaplains' meeting
Thursday I was going down with a cold and canceled a meeting with my spiritual director
Friday was trying to recover from that cold, catch up with a few emails and in the evening a meal with colleagues
Saturday at the Livestock market until the remains of the cold kicked in and lack of a voice meant conversation was impossible.
I'll make some notes now for my sermon tomorrow.

Plough sunday again!

The second Sunday of the month sees the Teme valley market at the Talbot, Knightwick. This Sunday we had a short service at mid-day to bless the plough and to think about & pray for the needs of farmers.
The photo is of the Hammonds (two local farmers) Jean Clift (who runs the Talbot), me and Madelaine (who played the keyboard).
In the evening Droitwich Methodist church celebrated plough for the first time in at least the last 39 years and possibly in the whole history of that church.

Commissioning of FCN president & National Coordinator

Saturday was the commissioning of Christopher Jones as the first president of Farm Crisis Network. It was a time of looking back and giving thanks for the amazing pioneering work he had done in setting up FCN.
It was also a time for looking forward and commissioning Sarah Brown as the new National Co-ordinator.
Chris lives just a village away from where I used to be vicar. Sarah was part of the Local Ministry team. There were a good number of members of my former congregations & it was good to see them.
The rather fuzzy picture is of Chris at the reception.

On the air

At BBC Hereford & Worcester this afternoon recording the service for Sunday morning. It goes out at 7.00am - or there's a listen again button.

Young Farmers & Plough Sunday

Sunday 6th January we had a Plough Sunday Service at Upton Church. Originally Plough Sunday was the day before Plough Monday, the first Monday after 12th Night and the day that work in the fields restarted after the Christmas festivities.
The village plough would be brought to the village church to ask a blessing on the work that it would do. Then it would be danced round the village.
Worcester Young Farmers brought the plough and a milk church and soil as we asked for God's blessing on the work of the farms in this coming year.

"It's just what we could do with the grandchildren"

Stories from the Stones have produced an audio tour of the Teme valley from Worcester to Tenbury. To promote it, on Saturday they had a coach trip to give a flavour of what the tour was about. We did part of the trail including Martley and Shelesley Walsh. The tour is supposed to include historic buildings encourage the consumption of local produce. So a stop at the Talbot to sample their local brews was a must.

As one participant said "It's just what we could do with the grandchildren"