Thought for the Month
Join me each month as I ponder life with all the highs and lows we encounter along the way.
I hope you enjoy my blog whose aim is to raise a smile as well as give food for thought.
As always, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me 01278 781147 c.judson@btinternet.com
God bless you.
Rev Chris
November 2024 ‘The Common Fund’
I can hardly believe that Paul McCartney’s Frog Song, otherwise known as ‘We all stand together’, will be 40 years old this year! If you don’t know it, you’ve definitely missed out – a lack that I encourage you to remedy at your first opportunity. If you do know it, then I probably need to apologise, as the tune is likely to stay with you for quite a while – it is one of those tunes.
‘Win or lose, sink or swim
One thing is certain, we’ll never give in
Side by side, hand in hand
We all stand together.’
This basic premise is true on so many different levels. From the enormity of the climate change challenges (where we all need to work together to halt the damage and avoid irreversible changes), to our local clubs and societies, be they The Womens’ Institute, the gardening club or the choir, where we all have to bend our own will and seek the common good if they are to function well. For our villages to flourish, the same is true across the board, and we are grateful to all who serve the common good in our local communities, who help knit our society together.
Churchwise, Bath & Wells seeks to work in this same way to place Vicars throughout the Diocese. Rather than simply putting Vicars where communities are rich enough to be able to afford them, they seek to help everyone to work together, to support the poorer parishes by means of a ‘common fund’ – formed by every parish being asked to contribute what is called a ‘parish share’. We are currently undergoing some changes in the way that this ‘parish share’ is calculated, to make the system more understandable, transparent and equitable (for more info: www.bathandwells.org.uk/common-fund OR contact me). The basic principle, however, has not changed i.e. seeking to work together to serve the common good. Of course, in addition to covering the costs of having a Vicar, and helping other parishes do this too, our local church also faces all the usual running costs (insurance, electricity, heating etc.), which we are very aware have increased considerably of late. Many of you already support your local church in all manner of ways, for which I am immensely grateful, but if you don’t yet but might be able to, or if you do but might be able to increase your giving, it would be greatly appreciated.
Together we stand, side by side……seeking to serve the common good!
God bless you
Rev Chris
October 2024 ‘The Harvest of our Lives’
Across our three rural parishes Harvest Celebrations happen through September and October, though ‘harvesting’ itself has a much wider span. It is a time and an activity that I greatly enjoy. Whether gathering in the reward of months of hard labours, or simply picking blackberries from the hedgerows and apples from the trees, there is something wonderful about harvesting and then sharing the spoils. This year the apple trees in the rectory have been productive, despite me! My sister helped while I balanced precariously on the stepladder to reach the fruit – and we particularly enjoyed using an old ‘apple picker’ passed down through generations – it was a great help and satisfying to use, though is in need of a little mending sometime soon. Having gathered most of the fruit, and left the squirrels, birds and insects a few for their gleaning, we then enjoyed delivering bags of apples to those we knew would use them. What a joy to receive back photos of the outcomes:
From the first to the last, the smallest to the positively ginormous, the Harvest Meals (Harvest Home, Harvest Lunch and Harvest Supper) are fabulous celebrations that draw our communities together to enjoy the wonders of the harvest and to share food and fun. Mindful, too, of those who are not able to celebrate the harvest, who are struggling to feed themselves and their families, we have been pleased to support various charities through this, including our local Highbridge Area Foodbank.
As we celebrated other things alongside – including a golden wedding anniversary (Many Congratulations to Sue and John!), it struck me that it is not just the harvest of the ground that we celebrate – but the harvest of our lives. I recently came across this excerpt from a poem entitled ‘The Harvest of Life’: ‘The seeds you’ve sown, in hearts and land, grow and flourish, a legacy so grand.’ I wonder, how is the harvest of your life doing this year? What has grown well? How have you tended to the fruits of your life? What might you have neglected? Is there need for some reparation? The great news is that, if action is needed, then you don’t need to wait until next autumn, or even spring, to take steps to make things better…..and God (and your local church) are here to support you.
God bless you, Rev Chris