October Message

Appreciating our local farmers

It’s Harvest season in the church, during the season of Creationtide. It’s a time when we celebrate the abundance of provisions that God provides us with, but do we ever spare a thought to where those provisions come from.

On 9th September I spent around 8hrs walking in the unseasonally hot September weather, as I completed the new Five Church Trail raising money for Shropshire Historic Churches Trust and our five local Anglican churches. It was ridiculously hot; wise and caring people warned me against doing it- “do it another day” they said. I was joined by Brian, and I am grateful for his example and his company.

Whilst walking along the country lanes and crossing fields, we were passed by several farmers in their tractors, some carrying trailers laden with bales, others in the process of cutting hedges or otherwise preparing the land for the next crop. I was struck by how it was unusual for me to be out in the heat for a prolonged period, and how our local farmers work day in, day out, to produce the food we so often take for granted.

Recently farmers have had a hard time. They are blamed for high food prices, for polluting local waterways and for generally destroying the planet. This harvest time I want us all to celebrate local farmers, giving thanks for their efforts which provide food for our tables and maintain the British landscape we all love so much.

Whether you join us at one of the harvest services in our villages, or at the Harvest Lunch on 1st Oct at Kinnerley; or whether you simply read this and don’t come near a church building, this Harvest please say thank you to a local farmer when you see one, without them we’d have little to celebrate. Yours in Christ, Rev Chris