From Harvest to Remembrance

October, with its harvest festivals and Harvest Lunch, had something of a Vicar of Dibley quality to it! Amid all the fun, our churches were beautifully decorated, we welcomed visitors, and we enjoyed some lovely food.

A big thank you to everyone who helped with the decorations, provided or served food at the lunch, and brought donations for Oswestry and Borders Foodbank and Hope House. Your generosity and hard work were greatly appreciated.

I also found time to visit the coffee morning at Melverley and the Bake Off in Maesbrook—after all, who can resist the lure of cake? I am now looking forward to Christmas and all that it brings.

But first comes November and Remembrance-tide: a time to remember our loved ones who have died and whom we see no longer.

I invite you to a short, reflective All Souls’ service at Knockin Church on Monday 2nd November at 7.00 pm. There will be an opportunity to light a candle and reflect on the love and memories we continue to hold. If you would like the name of your loved one read aloud during the service, please contact me. Everyone is welcome, wherever you live and whether or not you attend church. The service can offer comfort and healing, whether your loved one died recently or many years ago.

Remembrance Sunday, 8th November, will be observed in all our churches. On Wednesday 11 November, we will also hold a short Act of Remembrance at Maesbury War Memorial; please gather by 10.50am.

Remembrance Sunday is a solemn occasion on which we honour members of the British and Commonwealth Armed Forces who died in the two World Wars and in later conflicts. Across the United Kingdom, communities gather at churches, cenotaphs and war memorials to observe the two-minute silence and to lay wreaths of red poppies. The silence recalls the moment the guns fell quiet at the end of the First World War, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.

The poppy has become a familiar symbol of remembrance and hope, inspired by the flowers that grew on the battlefields of Flanders. As names are read aloud, we remember not only those who died, but also all whose lives have been affected by conflict. For the Church, remembrance is held together with prayer: for peace, for reconciliation between nations, and for a future in which the suffering of war is not repeated.

May we remember with gratitude and work together for peace.

Reverend Kay

Minister for Kinnerley, Melverley, Knockin, Maesbrook and Maesbury.