I have a no more approach to both front and back lawns.
The front lawn favours longer grasses and other plants because it gets little human footfall – but does get cat worn paths or this year, flatten areas where foxes have played. I picked one of each sort of grass that I could find and these are what I think they are.
26th May 2025
Another aid to community resilience is having people locally who have undertaken various forms of training such as first aid.
The British Red Cross have produced a detailed report on the benefits first aiders can bring to community resilience – “Being socially connected is related to an individual’s willingness to act, with those stating a willingness to act also reporting they feel part of a community, the community watch out for each other, and that people in the community are willing to,help each other.” (1)
And St John’s Ambulance highlights the benefits of mental health first aid – “Through active listening and creating a safe space for open conversations, Mental Health First Aiders contribute to a healthier and more resilient community.” (2)
There are equally benefits for communities that have the services of search and rescue volunteers. Volunteer teams cover both remote mountain terrains and flatter rural and urban areas too.
“Often when people hear the words “search and rescue “they have an image of an off-shore rescue, snow covered mountains or fast flowing waters. The Lowland Rescue teams including CRS can also be involved in fast water or weather-related incidents, but we often find ourselves having to search villages, towns and cities for missing persons.
These urban areas have many challenges including, buildings, both occupied and derelict, park land, waterways, gardens, roads and people to name but a few. The specialised Lowland Rescue training that our volunteers receive, which is always delivered to a national standard, prepares them for all eventualities.” (3)
Equally communities could benefit from having people who have fire fighting skills. (4)
(2) https://www.sja.org.uk/courses/workplace-mental-health-first-aid/mental-health-first-aid/book/
(3) https://www.communityrescue.org/service/land-search-and-rescue/
Just passing through Grantham on the train and I am thrilled to see a mass of white ox eye daisies fluttering in the the wind. They together with red valerian flowers are populating the space between the railway tracks. A beautiful wild surprise!
The land alongside railway tracks is also often a haven for wildlife and equally serves as corridor along which flora and fauna can travel.
25th May 2025
Reflection with readings below
We live in a world that seems increasingly distant from the peace and harmony we associate with the idea of God’s kingdom. The world we live in is dominated by economic pressures, the pursuit of profit, aggressive demands for national security, the overriding influence of wealth and big business, the cult of the individual and the adoration of the dictator. The world we live in places limited value on nature – indeed nature is often pitched as the opposite of progress and wealth creation – and has little concern for the poor other than to tax them all the more because of their failure to boost the economy.
It is a world in which we are reluctant to invest in the future unless we can do so on the cheap – or unless we’re building yet another flagship office complex. It is a world in which we are reluctant to challenge greed, injustice, poverty and prejudice. It is a world in which we refuse to listen to the cry of the Earth, to recognise the damage we are wilfully inflicting on the environment in which we live and on which we rely for our survival.
Yet here we are in the season of Easter – the season of new beginnings, the inauguration of a new relationship between God and creation that is shaped by the power of the resurrection.
Our first reading tells us Paul’s response to a vision where in response he takes the gospel to the people of Macedonia. This is a message that brings new life to those who are ready to receive it. This is a new way of life that is lived according to the values of the kingdom of God that Jesus has taught. Let’s imagine for a moment how different the world would be if everyone lived in that way, or (and this may be harder) if all of us in our church lived in that way. What if we, in the words of Lydia, might be ‘judged to be faithful to the Lord’?
Both today’s Psalm and the reading from the Book of Revelation, tells us that God’s ways give rise to health and harmony: ‘Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations’ and ‘the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit [whose] leaves … are for the healing of the nations.’ The implication is that if we live as physical beings in harmony with the physicality of creation, then we will experience this wellbeing. Such a lifestyles relies on us paying attention to the Earth – and when we do this will enable all the people to praise God. No more war and suffering, no more oppression nor prejudice – justice and love and mercy will overcome greed and selfishness and aggression.
And finally in our gospel reading, Jesus tells us to hear – to listen to – and keep his word, knowing that that word comes from God, and that it is the Holy Spirit that will teach us to understand that word. It is a word that will enable us to understand and address all the ways in which the way we live on Earth falls short of the ways of the Kingdom of God – the Easter Kingdom. We need, as Pope Francis wrote in Laudate Si, to listen to ‘the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’.
It is with some relief that this week it seems as if our Government is finally responding to the cry of poor in Gaza. And that can be a further prompt to us to continue to pray for the people of Gaza,
to contribute financially to their need, and to write to our MPs to both thank them and press them for further action.
May we all know Christ’s peace in our hearts and in the world around us.
Acts 16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptised, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.
Psalm 67
1 May God be merciful to us and bless us, *
show us the light of his countenance and come to us.
2 Let your ways be known upon earth, *
your saving health among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide all the nations upon earth.
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
6 The earth has brought forth her increase; *
may God, our own God, give us his blessing.
7 May God give us his blessing, *
and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
In the spirit the angel carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day– and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
John 14:23-29
Jesus said to Judas (not Iscariot), “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, `I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”
Working in the garden this afternoon I caught sight of a fox. He (or maybe she) between the raspberry canes, his (or her) sharp pointed nose peering round, eyes following and then seeing no danger, he (or she) lept onto the top of the compost heap, curled up and slept. Is the urban fox a wild animal? Or a byproduct of a human settlement?
This morning as I ran past Ham House I saw a healthy looking rat run across the track. I saw the same (or maybe a similar) one last Saturday. Is the urban rat a wild animal? Or another byproduct of a human settlement?
Thinking about it, many wild animals have and do adapts their behaviour to maximise the benefit they can gain from humans – eg birds that daily frequent our bird feeders, deer that choose to stay within the confines of Park rather than moving out into the streets of suburbia, peregrine falcons that nest on high rise buildings etc. Rather than denigrating some of the wild creatures that share our neighbourhoods, we should not celebrate their adaptability and take it as an encouragement that we should also be sufficiently adaptable to alongside others.
24th May 2025
“Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years. We are not God. The Earth was here before us and was given to us. The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty. We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.” Pope Francis, Laudate Si
When I am tempted to meanness,
Show me your ways, O God,
and teach me your paths.
When I fail to care for your creation,
Show me your ways, O God,
and teach me your paths.
When I am too busy to stand and stare,
Show me your ways, O God,
and teach me your paths.
Rhythms of Remembering, Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, with permission
Pause for reflection.
A reading Job 12:7-11
“But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what’s going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
every breathing creature?
Isn’t this all just common sense,
as common as the sense of taste?
Response:
To know you in all things
Weave a web of your presence around us today.
Be with our hands as they work.
Be with our eyes as they see.
Be with our ears as they hear.
Be with our tongue as it speaks.
Be with our feelings and our thoughts.
Be with the people we meet.
Be with the trees we pass by and the grass we walk upon.
Be with the birds we hear and the creatures we see.
Be with the things we fashion and the things we take.
Be with the decisions we make.
Be in and through, over and under all,
that doing and hearing and seeing, speaking and making and being,
may we glimpse your glory, hear your voice
and joyfully work with you
to create a new heaven and a new earth.
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all,
amen.
Some days seem so busy I feel I fail to engage with anything wild. Today was such a day which took me – late afternoon – to Guildford Cathedral for a Christian Climate Action vigil, praying that both cathedral and diocese would pursue the path of financial integrity and switch to an ethical bank aligned with the principles of social justice and care for the environment.
As we prayed I saw a couple of tiny red creatures scurrying back and forth on the steps – money spiders! Or at least that’s what we called them as children: they were good luck creatures. Checking on the web, they are a red velvet mite or Trombidiidae, and having eight legs (but no feelers – instead they use their front pair of legs) are classified as arachnids. However it is another group of spiders – Linyphiidae – that are noted as being called money spiders.
Either way, who we bank with can have a big impact on whether or not we are promoting care of the wild aspects of the environment.
m
Yesterday it rained for the first time in weeks and the smells were amazing – wet ground and the strong smell of eucalyptus from the leaves that had fallen from a neighbour’s tree. Walking along the streets I am also struck by the perfume of flowering plants – roses and mock orange in particular.
23rd May 2025
Community Energy
Adverse weather can cut the grid supply of electricity on which our lifestyles are so reliant. Having a locally based unit producing electricity would seem advantageous – for the individual householder this could be solar panels – but communities might also want to have a locally owned wind turbine or hydro plant. Community projects can also secure better energy security by ensuring individual homes are well insulated and that households have access to energy at affordable prices.
“Community energy is about people working together to generate electricity locally using renewable technologies that both reduce carbon emissions and save money.” (1)
“Community energy’ is when citizens work together to build renewables or support households in reducing their consumption. It often refers to community-led generation projects, for example a wind farm or solar panel project which members of the community part or fully own.” (2)
22nd May 2025
Depending where you live, you may have easy access to a library of things meaning if you need a power drill, or a sewing machine, a wood plane or a fish kettle, you can borrow one for a small fee. And thus avoiding spending far more on something you may only use once. That is good for sustainability and potentially increases resilience in the event of a crisis. It can also nurture structures and habits that makes for a resilient community – a community that can look after each other.
The Green Tau 