Harvest Festival is coming

and here is a briefing about what you need to know about this year's harvest in Worcestershire

An alternative reality???

Somehow or other I have agreed to play the part of Feste in a local amateur dramatic performance of Twelfth Night. Feste is the the Fool. It's typical Shakespearean comedy with women dressed as men & all kinds of subertuges.
Feste, the Fool - though arguably the only character with any real sense - at one point impersonates a vicar. So this production will feature a vicar impersonating a fool impersonating a vicar.
One of the subtle bits of the script is that it has the fool saying "nothing that is so is so!" and when impersonating the vicar saying"that that is so is so...."
Is Shakespeare suggesting that reality is not what it seems, that there is an alternative, but that the church is too blind to see?????

On a more prosaic note, the performance is in Martley Village hall on the afternoon and repeated in the evening of 26th September - tickets £5 for an unforgettable experience!

On yer bike

12th September sees the Historic Churches Cycle ride and I shall be seeing how many churches I can visit by bike.
If anyone wants to encourage me, then you can sponsor me. Proceeds are shared between the local church (Lower Teme Valley) and the Historic Churches Trust.
And I should loose several pounds (of weight!!)

Can you help?

How are the psalms used today in rural churches' worship? There is a letter here explain how this question is being researched and a questionnaire here

Stress and Loss

“I feel there is a constant dark cloud of uncertainty over me, causing stress, anxiety and fear. I feel weary, mentally and physically which results in pain in my body"

Farm Crisis Network have just published "Stress and Loss" - a report on research into the human and emotional cost of bovine TB. It's is available from the FCN website
This disease, which is endemic in this area, brings with it an enormous human cost along with the financial cost to both farmers and taxpayers.
Bovine TB is a disease in cattle and wildlife. There are stringent controls in cattle. Nothing is currently happening to tackle the disease in wildlife - it's endemic in badgers in this area. Government hopes are pinned on the hope of developing a vaccine. There is currently nothing available for cattle but the hope is for an injectable badger vaccine next year (though how it will be injected poses problems).
Cattle suspected of having TB are killed.
“The worst thing was that cows very close to calving had to be shot on farm. We could see the calves kicking inside as they died."

Surely not again

For the third year in a row rain is threatening to disrupt harvest. Talking to a farmer at Saturday's rather wet (though still excellent) Tenbury Show he told me that he had n't had three consecutive dry days in the whole of last month. The crops are standing ready for harvest and the quality is going down with each day that passes. Last year he had to abandon crops because he could gather them. It was the same the year before that.

Add to the equation that cereal prices have weakened and the cost of diesel, fertiliser and other essentials have gone up and it's a gloomy picture.

The old Book of Common Prayer from 1662 has a prayer for fine weather. It goes,
For Fair Weather. ALMIGHTY Lord God, who for the sin of man didst once drown all the world, except eight persons, and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again; We humbly beseech thee, that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and waters, yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather, as that we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season; and learn both by thy punishment to amend our lives, and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I wonder if it might help.

Healing Soil

Wednesday evening I (with others) visited Top Barn Farm. Along with "ordinary" agriculture they have an established training centre for people with learning difficulties. Trainees work with horticulture & agriculture. They vary in age from teenage to 70s.
Also on the farm is the "Good Soil" project, working with some of Worcester's most prolific offenders - many of whom are dealing with serious drug habits. A typical drug habit will cost around £100 per day in heroin. Mostly that is funded by crime and, because stolen goods usually realise about 1/10th of their face value a "typical" drug user will steal around £1,000 worth of goods per day. It costs significantly less than that to keep someone on the project, and a lot less than prison so even if the project made no difference to any of them in the long run, it still represents excellent value for money.
The most recent innovation on the farm is a unit for excluded pupils.
For all these different people working with God's creation helps bring healing.

That concept of contact with the earth bringing healing is the idea behind Care Farming. More information about Care Farming here. This lunch time saw the launch of the West Midlands Care Farm Network. Money from Advantage West Midlands is being used to try and develop another 20 care farms in the region.

The launch took place at The Fold at Bransford and the photo is of the farmer explaining the cropping plans for the vegetable and how the order of horticulture will bring order into the lives of those who participte in the project

How does that add up?

At a recent meeting of diocesan synod (the body that governs the church) I outlined some figures in respect of parish share- the amount parishes pay towards the cost of ministry.
Since then I have been asked for the figures by a number of people, so here they are.

Last year rural parishes were asked to contribute just over £48,500 per paid post. Urban parishes were asked for just under £34,000.

There is no "rocket science" in them. I have simply allocated parishes as "rural" or "urban" (mainly following government descriptions). I have added up the amount paid by rural parishes and the amount paid by urban ones.
I have used the electronic diocesan database to add up the number of stipendiary (paid) posts in urban and rural. I have divided the amount paid by urban parishes by the number people paid to work in urban parishes and likewise for rural.

The difference is significant and thought needs to be given to where stipendiary posts are allocated. That's not to say that only parishes that are rich enough to pay should have a vicar, but urban churches should realise the extent to which they are being supported by the rural. And according to the Commission for Rural Communities, disposable incomes are less in rural areas.

Every vicar should be here

That was the view of one of the trainees at the Three Counties Show. The only excuse they would allow was if officiating at a wedding prevented coming to the Show. Otherwise, all the clergy should be there because there was so much that was so important happening!
Or at least, that was what one trainees thought. They were clergy, lay readers and diocesan workers who were given an introduction to some of the issues currently facing agriculture. They had a morning being taken round the livestock lines and introduced to rural organisations, accompanied by a farmer so they were getting it "straight from the horses mouth."
They heard about EID, SFP, bTB... They met with the NFU, CLA, FCN. Behind all those TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) were very real issues affecting the quality of life for many people.
As well as sending trainees about and about, the church had a hospitality tent to offer refreshment and an oasis of calm in a hectic show. We had visitors from as far north as Fife and as far south as Australia.
We also had people out and about in the showground. In that role I had fascinating conversations about the ethics of Genetically Modified crops, in-vitro fertilization, Global warming,soil conversation, regulation, ... The list seems almost endless.
It was a good, but exhausting, weekend.

What's the gospel for Reggie Perrin?

I loved the first version of Reggie Perrin with Leonard Rossiter. The new version with Martin Clunes is, in my view, equally good. Both have encapsulated the pressures of modern living. Both are disturbingly accurate portrayals of contemporary society - even if now the Rossiter version is dated. It reflected life when it was made.

The programmes have raised, for me, the question of what the Church and Christian faith have to offer for the countless Reggie Perrins at work today. What would happen to Reggie if he ventured through the door of his local church?

Would he be told that coming to church would give him what his leaflet wielding "counsellor" at work can't? Would it help, or would it just add another source of pressure, of things that he should do to his already hopelessly overfull diary?

Would he be signed up an a Christian Basics/Alpha/Emmaus/... course? But in his process driven world would being processed in this way make any difference?

What Reggie needs is a community in which he can behave like a unique human being and be treated like one. Wouldn't it be good if churches could provide that!