June Vicar's Letter
At the beginning of May Bella and I went away for a weeks holiday. During that time we spent a day at the Malvern Spring Garden Show. The variety of different plants was utterly amazing, as were the show gardens, and the ‘Gardens without Borders.’
In the Gold winning garden we were taken back to a Victorian garden. At one end was the back of the house and at the other the privvy! In between were well organised rows of vegetables, well maintained and weeded. It was authentic, including live sheep, chickens and pigs (next to the privy because of the smell). It was even authentic down to well placed weeds! It reminded me of how some churches are organised, everything (well maybe almost everything) in it’s place and everything well organised and structured. I don’t think that’s how I view St Paul’s.
The winner of the ‘Borders without Gardens’ showgarden was a wonderful display based on a 007 theme. It was indeed very showy and beautiful with a wonderful mix of colours. We especially lined the two different, deep purple tulips that were used to good effect. Again I don’t think that St Paul’s would be well represented by this garden. Everyone in our church us unique and wonderful, but we aren’t a showy, glitzy church, rather we have a quiet, relaxed and homely ethos.
So what garden could represent us? Well it wasn’t the amazingly colourful and incredible well presented indoor displays of Orchids or Lillies, or the displays of Bonsai or Crysanths. Instead I would look to the displays of woodland plants. The displays were deliberately designed to look as natural as possible, albeit without the weeds. Each included a fantastic variety of unique plants that worked well together and supported each other. Many of the plants were
hardy varieties that would survive in dry conditions, however not all were easy to grow and some needed more tender loving care than others to thrive and achieve their best.
That is very much like us, a church that is natural and real. Each of us is unique and special and there are many who know God’s goodness and grace through dry and difficult times. All of us on occasions need loving and caring for and our church community is very good at providing the loving support that is needed. May we all continue to grow, flourish and thrive as we support and care for each other in ways that are natural and real.