diary 2005 page 1

Kirkburn and its associated villages in former times, were totally agricultural.These days things are somewhat different, but our people still feel an affinity with the land. with animals, and with farming. So we held, as is the custom. our blessing of the plough on the first Sunday after the Epiphany. This service originates from before the Middle Ages, before the first furrows of the new season were cut and before any seeds were sown. In those days on the following Monday the plough would be carried round the houses in the villages. If the householders weren’t sufficiently generous in the collection for the church, then very likely their front lawns would be ploughed up. Times have changed; ploughs are very big - we brought a plough share into church - and seed sowing, especially winter wheat, means that ploughing has been done, under normal circumstances, well before January. Nevertheless. Plough Sunday
is a gentle reminder that no matter how clever we are, we depend on God for so many things that we cannot provide for ourselves.
We can’t make air; we can’t make rain; we can’t make sunshine; in spite of all the peculiar experiments going on these days, we can’t
make life. And it is a reminder that farmers face significant problems; that in the face of natural disaster, food production is
vital; and that while the world wide supply of food is adequate for
all, the community of mankind seems helpless, and is certainly hopeless , in bringing about the sharing world of the kingdom of God.