Reader Writes - March 2020
Land use ebbs and flows and always has done over the generations. In the 19thC the repeal of the Corn Laws brought imported grain and cheaper bread for the growing industrial population. Consequently, marginal land such as the Brecklands of East Anglia, returned to grazing and scrub; today they are still home to plantations of pine and herds of deer. Now the cutting free of the EU Common Agricultural Policy will shake up upland farming in Radnorshire; none of us knows how this will develop but price shifts and environmental grants may decrease upland flocks and increase tree-planting. This process has been embraced at Knepp Castle in Sussex where they gave up the struggle to farm their heavy clays and let the land “re-wild” with astonishing results; stock roam free, hedges encroach, turtle doves “vrrr” and storks have even attempted to nest. Many farmers are embracing systems that more closely mimic nature and conserve soil.
This is all by way of a metaphor. The Church is not a building and nor is it a mode of worship with pews, organ and Sunday rituals. The Church is the believers who may gather of a Sunday but live in the community the rest of the week as the salt and light of the Gospel. None of this is necessary to say to those who do gather in the church for weekly services, but we may need to look harder at the evident spirituality and native passions blossoming around us. Walk down the hill from church, especially during the week, and you will see Made in the Marches overflowing with beauty and creativity. A little farther on you may see an artist at work in her gallery with arresting images speaking life to us. In May the town will be hosting the Marches Makers Festival, folk bands draw crowds, choirs sing, musicians play, gardeners dig, environmentalists rejoice and protest. The lifeful Spirit is amongst us.
Where there is such an abundance of creativity and spirituality thriving naturally, in the wild so to speak, then we should be “rewilding” the Church by doubling our work and prayer-life to see where God is already at work around us. This isn’t a recruitment drive to pull people into church, welcome though they all are, but more recognition that believers are called to be like yeast in their communities, being used by the Spirit wherever prompted. For example, there is a bereavement course running that seeks to equip people better to support family, friends and neighbours who are grieving; there is theology for loss and for hope, but the course is for all, of faith or no faith.
God is sovereign over us and always amongst us; that is a formidable idea when you look at the challenges and damage of wars and strife and poverty in the world. And the vibrancy of the Church in some of the poorest places on earth testifies to God’s presence and his abundant Holy Spirit at work amongst us. Wherever spirituality is kindled, whether in the seeking for light in the darkness, expressing God-given gifts of creativity or “doing justice”, God is present and at work, often in surprising ways. We were never promised that the Church would be tame; it is supposed to be wild, celebratory, joyful. Jesus said that he had come to provide life and life in all its fullness.
Robert MacCurrach