Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends, I love the season of autumn in England -that time of mellow
fruitfulness. As James Thomson puts it:
"Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfined, and spreads a common feast for all that lives."
The Bible speaks of that 'common feast for all that lives'when Moses says, as he blesses the twelve tribes of Israel:
"May the LORD bless his land with the precious dew from heaven above and with the deep waters that lie below; with the best the sun brings forth and the finest the moon can yield; with the choicest gifts of the ancient mountains and the fruitfulness of the everlasting hills; with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favour of him who dwelt in the burning bush." (Deuteronomy 33:13-16a) Those words are an expression of what we all feel and hope for in our lives. In this season of autumn we become aware of that hope being fulfilled. As we see the fruitfulness all around us in the fields, the hedgerows, the woods and in our own gardens, we are indeed being blessed 'with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness.'
In Hampton Court Palace, there is a grapevine under glass, and it is called 'The Great Vine'; it was first planted by Capability Brown, and is about 1,000 years old. It has a stem that is at least two feet thick, and some of its branches are 200 feet long. Because of skilful cutting and pruning, the vine produces several tons of grapes each year. Even though some of the smaller branches are 200 feet from the main stem, they bear much fruit because the life energy of the vine flows right through to them.
Pauline and I saw the Great Vine some years ago and I shall never forget its sheer scale and the enormous numbers of bunches of grapes growing on it. Outside the Conservatory where it lives is a patch of earth where nothing grows. It is there that the roots of the Great Vine run, and where they are fed with all the nutrients to enable it to support all those bunches of grapes on those long branches. When I noticed this plot of land I realised how much the fruitfulness of the Great Vine depends not only on the careful and diligent work of the gardeners who look after it, but also the life-giving energy of the nutrients which it is being fed.
The fruitfulness of our countryside depends so much on the careful and diligent work that we put into caring for it, and the responsible way that we look after the wonderful environment in which we have been set.
It seems to me that we will only truly act responsibly when we are truly thankful for the environment. And that thankfulness should be directed towards the person who has created it for us -God. It is about recognising that it is His 'life energy'that flows through our environment and sustains it, and that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Him. So, fruitfulness is ultimately about being thankful, as this poem I have come across encourages us to be.
I offer thanks for just familiar things--
The ruddy glory of the sunset sky,
The shine of firelight as the dusk draws nigh,
The cheery song my little kettle sings,
The woodland music of my giant pine,
The last sweet tokens that my garden yields,
The mellow tints upon the autumn fields,
The far-off misty mountains' purple line,
The sense of rest that home so surely brings,
The books that wait my pleasure, true and fine,
Old friendships that I joy to feel are mine.
I offer thanks for just familiar things.
So let us indeed be thankful, and, therefore,
fruitful in our own lives. As Jesus Christ puts it:
'This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much
fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.' (John 15:8)
May God bless you all.