Creativity and a Creator God

Last year I had the unusual privilege, of attending my Aunt's 100th birthday party.

Although she’s my God Mother I had not seen her for many years as she lives at the other end of the country but when the invitation arrived I realized this was a unique opportunity, not to be missed and I wondered what Godly wisdom she might have for her God Son,  half her age.

I was met by her granddaughter Rachel who showed me in to the wooden panelled village hall, past bouquets of lilies; which filled the room with their strong scent.

I looked around the room expecting to see an elderly lady in a wheelchair or sitting quietly in a corner.

I thought “where can she be”? “Is she here yet?”

I looked again and realised.

“There she was” with a face brown and wrinkled from many days spent in her garden. She was standing upright in a blue tweed suit and holding a wooden walking stick, which was well-polished through years of use.

I was greeted by kiss on the cheek and congratulated her on her birthday.

Later following cups of piping hot tea, cupcakes and sandwiches, fit for the queen. I was able to ask her a question I am sure, we would all want to ask.

What was her secret? 

Her reply “Find your passion” and she went on to explain that she had found her’s: botanical painting, when she had retired.

And I realised that all the beautiful paintings of local wild flowers, that were hung in the village hall, where her work. Had she been born in the 1700’s she would have made a suitable expedition artist for Captain Cook.

As I considered this, I realised that in finding her passion, she had found herself. 

Indeed in finding herself she had come to understand something of universal and eternal significance.

Christians’ believe that we are made in the image of a creator God.

My Aunt in finding her passion botanical painting had discovered and exercised her creative side and was experiencing the joy of being “herself”, being the person “God” had made her to be and this had filled her with energy and joy to keep on painting into her 100th year.

A Reflection on Ploughing for Plough Sunday 2016

Plough Sunday is celebrated in a number of Parish Churches across the Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales and although it was resurrected during Victorian times its roots are much older.

Traditionally the community or village plough was kept in the Church and the service was designed to bless the plough and the farming community before the re-commencement of work on Plough Monday i.e. the first Monday after the holiday break and the Christmas festivities.

In some churches ploughs are brought into church and dance teams perform sword dances in the church or church grounds.

Plough services are also special in that we are welcoming members of the farming community to church and asking for God’s blessing on them, their work and their families.

I am not a farmer; however I was brought up in a small rural village in Worcestershire and used to observe the ploughing of fields close to our home
One of the things that I observed was that the farmers when ploughing made sure all the stubble and trash from the previous crops was ploughed in, buried and hidden from sight.

I guess a ploughman must get a feeling of satisfaction when he looks back across a field and sees the perfect rows of furrows with not a stalk of stubble showing.
One of the people I remember speaking to about ploughing was Charlie Knight who was a retired farm worker who had seen service in the Great War.

Charlie told me about the time a pair of steam tractors had been used to plough some fields in the village and how he remembers the ploughs creating great clods of earth like tombstones.

Since those days ploughing techniques have changed and instead of the small tractors, like the little Grey Fergies or David Browns I remember as a boy, we have, what in comparison are giants, green John Dears and blue New International Tractors on our farms. We also have reversible ploughs and Global positioning systems to help keep the furrows perfectly straight.

It’s vital that famers’ embrace these new technologies as several combining factors are driving up the demand and price of food across the world and creating what some see as a perfect storm of demand.

• A growing demand for food and meat, especially in the emerging economies of China   and India

• A growing demand for energy across the world; which means agricultural land is being used to grow energy crops. Even in Yorkshire wheat is being grown to produce bio ethanol and oil seed rape is being grown to produce bio diesel.

• On top of this is the threat of climate change and pressure on water supplies.

We live on a beautiful yet fragile planet, where our very existence is dependent on a few inches of top soil, rain, sunshine and skilled farmers.

We must all be thankful for the skilled work of the farming community and not take them for granted.
The bible has a number of passages which feature ploughing and I wonder how these passages can speak to us about our lives in 21^st century Britain?
In the Old Testament Isaiah 2:1-5 speaks of turning from war and old ways to a new life of peace and turning swords into plough shares and spears into pruning implements.

In the New Testament Paul’s Epistle to the Romans 6:1-11 speaks of burial and death of the old, and a new life in Christ.

The burying is a bit like the stubble and trash of last year’s crops being buried through the action of ploughing. This being necessary so a new crop can be grown. i.e. a new crop cannot be grown until the remains of the old crop are buried.
To quote St Paul’s Letter

Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Now I find it interesting when I was reading up about the sword dancers that perform at some Plough Sunday services that in some dances one of the characters is killed and then brought back to life again. This, I am told is symbolic of killing off the old year before a new year can be born. There is perhaps also an analogy to the death and resurrection of Christ.

The music and rhythm of the dance perhaps also being symbolic of our Christian experience, as we seek to follow the rhythm of the dance of the Trinity in our lives.
Sometimes in life things don’t go the way we or others would like.

Perhaps as a result of:

• Our own limited means

• Through poor decisions made by ourselves or others

• Or through the basic reality that we live in a world which is often less than perfect

• Life’s experiences and memories can get us down and hold us back from experiencing the newness of life that is promised in God.

The bible speaks about being dead to the things that pull us down and it also speaks about being made alive in Christ, You see we are also promised the gift of the Holy Spirit.
One way of describing the relationship in the Trinity between the father, the son and the spirit is of a dance with the three person of the Trinity dancing together in relationship.
This is a dance we are all invited to join in, leaving the past behind and being energised by and immersed in, the Dance of the Trinity.
This is the really good news of the gospel that we don’t have to allow the past to burden us. The past can be buried or ploughed in with Christ and left there and by his spirit we can be given a newness of life with Jesus:            

• Dancing with the Trinity,
• Dancing to a new tune and  a new beginning of a resurrection life
• Dancing to the steps of faith, hope and love
• Dancing with all our short comings forgiven, ploughed in and forgotten.

Okay life may still be a struggle but the pain of these things can be left with Christ.
MINISTRY

Now consider those things that perhaps you hold in secret that you want to be ploughed in or buried with Christ.
Perhaps
·         The fear and worry regarding a situation in your families
·         The fear and worry about your finances or your job or lack of one
·         The pain or hurt of a broken relationship now or in the past
·         Or maybe you feel far away from God and are regretting something you have done and want to bring that something to Jesus and want to leave it with him in the waters of baptism knowing that he has dealt with it.
·         Or perhaps last year was rotten for you and you want to leave it behind and start afresh at the start of this New Year.
·         Or maybe you want to say to God that you feel far away from him and want to embrace him as he moves towards you.
·         Or simply that you somehow feel deep within yourself that God has been speaking to you today or in recent weeks and you want to reach out and to respond to him.
 Now imagine these things that bring you down being like the stubble in a field on a winter’s day all brown and decaying.

Now imagine that Jesus is coming. He is driving a tractor with a plough and is ploughing your field for you and all those bits of stubble and trash are being ploughed in.

Now Jesus has ploughed the whole field and not a single stalk of stubble is showing. He drives over to you, he stops the tractor, turns off the engine, gets out of the cab, climbs down and greets you with his arms outstretched and says:

“It’s finished, be at Peace”

PRAYER

Lord Jesus we thank you for your word which speaks about being buried with you; so that just as you were raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might be given a new life to walk or a new dance with you leading the way.

Lord Jesus we thank you for your death which enables all the trash and stubble in our lives to be ploughed in and buried with you at the Cross.And most of all Lord Jesus we thank you for your resurrection victory over all that seeks to bring us down. 

Holy Spirit we thank you that you come to us to make us whole and to give us the energy to dance the dance of a resurrection life with You and the Father and the Son.

In Jesus name we pray

AMEN

Plough Sunday Service in Diocese of West Yorkshire and Dales January 2016

January 10th

Sharrow St John's 10:00

Knaresborough St John the Baptist's 10:30 (With Claro Sword Dancers)

Kirkby Malzeard  St Andrew’s 10:30 (With Highside Longsword)

Ripon Cathedral 14:30 for refreshments (hot pork rolls) service at 15:30.

January 17^th

Bellerby St John the Evangelist 09:15

Pateley Bridge St Cuthbert's 10:30 (New for 2016)

Leyburn St Mathew's 10:45

Winksley  St Cuthbert and St Oswald’s, 11:00 

Masham  St Mary’s 18.30  (With Highside Longsword)

Why Fair Trade Begins at Home

Many of us think very carefully about the food we purchase- how far it has travelled; how it has been produced and whether its trading was ‘fair’ enough to enable the farmers to make a decent living.

Unfortunately there’s a global trend for farmers to receive an inadequate share of the consumer price, whether for coffee, bananas, wheat, milk or pig meat.

In the UK the farming community is facing many pressures, and sadly those pressures are proving too great for some.

At the moment there is a threat of TB infection amongst cattle and although milk prices for some farmers have been maintained at current levels, these are still very low. At the same time with the increasing cost of fodder for animals, some pig farmers are finding it difficult to make a living.

A few facts:

·        Of every £1 of food brought by consumers only 7.5p goes to the farmer compared to 50p 50 years ago.

·        Dairy farmers are going out of business faster than ever before because the price paid to them is so low.

·        Farmers are some of the most at-risk occupational groups for suicide.

·        14% of Britain’s total employment depends of farming in some way.

·        Almost all farmers are involved in environmental improvements as a normal part of the farm management.

So how can you help?

Chose local and in season produce.

·        Look out for labels, such as the Red Tractor, LEAF Marque and the Lion on eggs.

·        Ask our retailers, restaurants and pubs where their food comes from

·        Visit the local countryside for a walk or visit a local farm on Open Farm Sunday held each year in June. 

You might also want to support charities that support our farmers. These include:

Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution www.rabi.org.uk

Farm Crisis Network www.fcn.org.uk

The Addington Fund http://www.addingtonfund.org.uk

Thanks to the Farm Crisis Network for much of the information contained in this article. 

Tyne Tees Digital Switch-Over Help Scheme and the Rural Church

Tyne Tees Digital Switch-Over Help Scheme and the Rural Church

Imagine that you are an elderly person living on your own and that your television provides you with company through the day. You may even use the news programs as a way to remind you to take your medications.

You have had the same television for a number of years and are familiar with the controls and it would be difficult for you to get down to town to choose a new one as there is an infrequent bus service and what’s more you wouldn’t be able to afford it.

You see some adverts on the television warning that changes are to be made to your television signal and this all sounds very confusing. The talk of digital signals and special boxes starts to worry you.

However, when the new curate visits to bring you communion, she tells you that there is a help scheme available and that if you phone 0800 40 85 900 they will arrange for an engineer to come and sort it all out for you.

That’s exactly what you have done and a nice young man, well he’s actually in his thirties and reminds you of your grandson, comes and fits a special box so that you can keep your current TV. So when the switch over come on the 12^th of September for BBC 2 and the 26^th of September for all the other channels you have it all sorted.

So where does the Rural Church fit in to this picture?  Uniquely we have people in every Parish in England who are in contact with elderly and vulnerable people in the community who could be missing out on the help scheme and perhaps would appreciate a gentle reminder.

So as part of our Christian witness we can be raising awareness of the help scheme or even perhaps helping our neighbours to retune their TV s.

For more information on the Digital Switch over see www.digitaluk.co.uk

And for more information on the help scheme see www.helpscheme.co.uk

Those eligible for the help scheme include people who are:

Aged over 75 or

Have lived in a care home for six months or more or

Claim (or could claim)

-Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or

Attendance or Constant Attendance Allowance or

Mobility supplement or

Registered blind or partially sighted

Please note that there is a standard fee of £40 but the scheme is free if you receive: pension credit, income support, income –related employment and support allowance or income-based jobseeker’s allowance.  

Micro Combined Heat and Power for Churches and Other Community Buildings 

As we all know technology is continually developing and at a recent national meeting of rural community buildings advisers run by Action with Communities in Rural England I came across a technology which may be of interest to Churches that have access to mains gas.

The principle behind the technology is that as electrical energy is lost during transmission, it is more efficient to distribute natural gas through the gas network and then generate electricity locally using a micro combined heat and power plant (Micro-CHP). The heat energy is then used to heat a home, business or community building and the electricity generated either used in the building or fed in to the national grid for local consumption.

The Government's Microgeneration Strategy has identified Micro CHP as one of the key technologies offering a realistic alternative to centrally generated electricity and it has recently introduced the Feed in Tariff, giving funding to organisations and households that use these technologies.

I have identified two companies that are involved in this technology:

Blue Gen   www.bluegen.info/What-is-bluegen-UK/ 

Baxi           www.baxi.co.uk/products/combinedheatandpower.htm

So, if your Church or home has a gas connection or there is a gas main close by, this may be worth exploring as a way of reducing your energy costs.

Food and Farming                            

As global population rises and our valuable natural resources are under increasing pressure, the need to find intelligent ways of balancing production, consumption and environmental protection are critical.

In recent years there have been food riots around the world as a result of food shortages and rising costs, which are impacting particularly on the poor. There are also concerns about UK food security and therefore Government policy is emphasising production.  So what has driven these changes?

A Perfect Storm

Several factors are coming together that are driving up the price of food across the world and creating what some see as a perfect storm.

·       A growing demand for food and meat, especially in the emerging economies of China and India.

·       A growing demand for energy across the world which means agricultural land is being used to grow energy crops. Even in Yorkshire wheat is being grown to produce bio ethanol and oil seed rape is being grown to produce bio diesel.

·       In addition, there is the threat of climate change and pressure on water supplies.

Our Beautiful Planet

We live on a beautiful yet fragile planet, where our very existence is dependent on a few inches of top soil, rain and sunshine.

Recently the government's chief scientist Professor John Beddington delivered what he called a 'gloomy, frightening but optimistic' presentation on these challenges.
Focusing on population increase and climate change, Professor Beddington said food, water and energy poverty remain the fundamental challenges and that 'climate smart agriculture' was needed now. He went on to outline the growing gap between the world's current water supply and the future needs. About 40 per cent more water will be needed by 2030.
He added that the world's population was likely to reach nine billion before 2050.
"Business as usual in the agricultural industry to meet the burgeoning population and demand on resources is going to exacerbate climate change," he said.
"Climate change is happening and it will continue to happen. People have often said that scientists exaggerate this to get research projects, but there’s an enormous body of evidence to show that it's happening."
He condemned the thwarted Rothamsted Research Station GM protestors, saying the science being trialled at the station was 'exciting' and that it was 'very sad that a group felt it should disrupt it'.


The responsibility for change lies both with farmers and consumers.

·       On the one hand famers need to embrace best agricultural practice and modern technologies to ensure optimum levels of production in the most environmentally sustainable way.

·       On the other hand as consumers we need to make intelligent purchasing decisions, purchasing food items with the lowest environmental impact and which have been produced in the most efficient manner.

Sustainable Farming

The good news is that British farmers are some of the best in the world producing quality food to high standards of animal welfare and the environment. They use modern technology with increasing precision and do not use more chemicals than are necessary as they are simply too expensive; alongside their desire to protect and respect the nature and landscape around their land.

Many British farmers are also harnessing energy from the land, the sun and wind to produce electricity and heat as well as fuels for vehicles, homes and businesses. British farmers are also passionate about their animals. That’s why our animal welfare standards are amongst the highest in the world.

A small percentage of British farmers farm organically, however the potential for organic production is limited, as Natasha Gilbert writing in Nature highlights; “Crop yields from organic farming are as much as 34% lower than those from comparable conventional farming practices, the analysis finds. Organic agriculture performs particularly poorly for vegetables and some cereal crops such as wheat, which make up the lion’s share of the food consumed around the world.”

Therefore solely relying on organic methods is not going to produce the food and raw materials the world needs, so would leave many people hungry or paying prices for food they could not afford.

Food Miles
Whilst it might be attractive to enjoy green beans and sugar snap peas and strawberries throughout the year, flying these in to the UK gives them a significant carbon footprint; so it is more environmentally sustainable to choose seasonal vegetables and fruit produced in the UK.
At the same time food miles do not give the whole picture of the sustainability of produce. For example bananas produced in the West Indies and transported in a modern freight ship are likely have a lower carbon foot print than tomatoes produced in a greenhouse heated by oil in the UK.

What we can all do

·       Chose local and in season produce.

·       Look out for labels, such as the Red Tractor, LEAF Marque and the Lion on eggs.

·       Ask our retailers, restaurants and pubs where their food comes from

·       Visit the local countryside for a walk or go on a farm day on Open Farm Sunday held each year in June. 

Lightening your Load

One of the things I enjoy reading is a book that challenges my preconceptions and gets me thinking. I have just read one such book.

The authors suggest that reading the book requires courage, not because of what the book says, but because of what you, as a follower of Christ, should do in response to what you have read.

This is not a book that is designed to undermine faith in anyway, far from it, if anything it sharpens one's vision and faith that the church can rise to the challenge of being who she is in Christ.

The authors’ view is that many of our church practices have their origins not in the Christian community but in the world beyond the Church and in fact the pagan world this they suggest includes.  

• Our focus on buildings
• The way we order our service
• The way sermons are delivered
• A focus around a professional clergy rather than the ministry of all church members
• Dressing up for church and clergy attire and gowns
• The way we finance our churches
• The way we have diluted the sacraments
• Our systems of education
• Much of what goes as bible study

In one sense, I think the authors have gone too far, as one thing that has enabled the church to be so successful in the past, has been its ability to adapt to a changing culture and to baptise what is good even if it comes from a pagan world.

However, the point is that some of the practices that may have been appropriate in the past have become entrenched; and perhaps we need to hold them more lightly. We can then adapt to a changing world and bring the message of Christ to people of our generation; while not being encumbered with methods which belong to the mission of the church in previous generations.

One thing is clear to move forward we have to let go of things from the past that hold us back.

This book will assist us in lightening our load and to be fleet of foot and help enable the church to be the body that she is called to be in this our generation.

Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices by Frank Viola and George Barna   http://www.paganchristianity.org/