From Rev'd Louise

Monthly reflection

June 2026 Churches Count on Nature

Over the years, there have been countless times when I have asked members of prayer groups or small discussion groups, ‘Where do you most / best sense God?’ Over all those years, only once has someone replied, ‘In church.’ The most common answer, by a very long way, has always been, ‘Outside, in nature.’

That answer has never surprised me. I spent my childhood in a tiny hamlet of eight houses, surrounded by miles and miles of arable farmland, long before the days of intensive use of agricultural chemicals that has become the norm today. My childhood hummed and twittered, and hopped and crawled and bounded with the myriad of insects and birds and animals that surrounded us in vast numbers. I understood and knew God through his presence in the wonder and beauty of the natural world around me, long before I became a Christian. I have cherished God’s creation since younger than I can remember, loving all life for its own sake long before I learned to love it because God does.

Over the decades of my Christian journey of faith, I have seen the Church of England gradually rediscovering a truth known to environmentalists world-wide, a truth that was known to our ancestors in faith for most of Christian history, only forgotten a few hundred years ago; that we are part of God’s Creation, unique only in that we have the capacity to love and care for all that God has made, as God does. I have seen the Church of England gradually rediscovering what was known to the writers of Genesis five hundred years before the birth of Christ; that humanity’s unique role is to share with God in caring for and protecting his Creation. In recent years, the Church of England has written this into its Five Marks of Mission, the five characteristics that describe what the Church of England defines as essential characteristics of being a church. The Fifth Mark of Mission is, ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.’ In our global climate and biodiversity crises, we see how care for creation is also inseparable from care for our human neighbours; world-wide it is the poorest and the most vulnerable humans who are impacted most severely by the climate and biodiversity crises.

Each year, in June, the Church of England encourages us to reconnect with the nature that is essential to our well-being and that of our neighbours near and far. The Churches Count on Nature initiative encourages churches and communities to notice and record the species living in churchyards and burial grounds, from wildflowers and insects, to birds and mammals. Details of how to get involved can be found at https://arocha.org.uk/what-we-do/churches-count-on-nature/

My prayer is that even if you do not choose to take part in Churches Count On Nature, we will all find time to simply be still somewhere and take some time to notice and appreciate our non-human neighbours that we share God’s land with.

If you would like to sign up to receive a weekly reflection, or to receive the regular newsletters from churches and Christian groups across Hope Valley, please go to https://mailchi.mp/2c07821b33f6/sign-up-for-ponder-and-pray or https://mailchi.mp/cbb9a512a36e/hope-valley-christians-newsletter or email me on [email protected] and I can sign you up.

May 2026 Signs of summer

As I write this, the weather is looking like it is about to rain again, and for the last few weeks temperatures have been swinging from cold to hot to cold again. Yet, there are many signs that summer is definitely on the way. I wonder which signs of approaching summer you tend to notice?

For the last few weeks, Richard and I have been waiting eagerly to see our first swift of the season, and tracking news of their gradual migration northwards. But we’ve also been watching the gradual return of summer tourists. Before Easter, we begin to spot the return of Duke of Edinburgh groups, followed by steadily increasing numbers of visitors as the weather warms.

Although I understand that large numbers of tourists can bring challenges to any area, Richard and I really enjoy living in an area that is ‘touristy.’ Every time we stop to chat to walkers we meet, or simply watch tourists’ enjoyment of the place that has become home for us, it reminds me afresh of how fortunate I am to live in a place that people enjoy visiting. And each time, it reminds me afresh of how privileged I am to enjoy all year round what our visitors only get to enjoy briefly.

But as I see the number of visitors coming into our churches, sometimes very briefly, sometimes staying longer, I am also reminded of how privileged our churches are to have contact with so many people. I am sure that people visit our churches for many reasons, from simple curiosity, to a love of historical buildings, to seeking a moment’s quiet, or a respite from the rain. Some come to our services, some come to pray, some come with no faith connection at all. But to all of them, our churches have the opportunity to offer something of the love of God, though our welcome, through our hospitality, or simply though offering a space for people to pray or simply to ‘be’.

My prayer is that all who enter our church buildings will feel warmth and belonging. But my prayer too is that you will let us know what our churches feel like for you. What could we do better? What is missing? What are you seeing that we are not? And my prayer is that all who enter our churches, for whatever reason, will leave feeling blessed by their visit.

April 2026 Welcome

On a very wet evening in early February this year, I received a phone call from a police officer, telling me that there was a homeless person in the porch of one of the three benefice churches, asking me if I knew, and if I had given permission for them to be there. I replied that the person was very welcome to sleep there, and I was glad they had been able to find some shelter from the weather. I asked the police officer to let them know that they were welcome to sleep there and that I was keeping them in my prayers. Later on that same evening I received a phone call from the person concerned, thanking me.

As I thought about this homeless person, and as I prayed for them, I found myself reflecting on the life of Jesus. I am saddened that anyone should think that my permission - or anyone else’s – is necessary for a person to seek shelter in a space that belongs to everyone, and should be very obviously a place where all are welcomed. I was also embarrassed that the person concerned felt the need to thank me for ‘permitting’ them what should already be theirs anyway. And I reflected that Jesus, the person that all our churches have been built to honour, began his earthly life as the child of a couple far from home, seeking shelter for the night and who, before he was two years old, was a refugee fleeing for safety to a foreign land.

We know very little about Jesus’ life between his infancy and the time when he began his three year public ministry before his crucifixion. But we do know that those three years of public ministry were spent as a homeless rabbi, wandering from place to place, and telling a would-be follower, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ [Luke 9: 58]

Jesus also taught that our love for God is lived out through the way in which we treat those around us, particularly in how we treat the most vulnerable and needy. In the parable of the sheep and the goats [Matthew 25: 31-46], Jesus speaks of those who ‘inherit the Kingdom of God,’ as those who fed him when he was hungry, clothed him when he was naked, and cared for him when he was sick or in prison. When they asked when they had done these things, the King in the parable [God] responded, ‘Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

My prayers this month continue to be for the homeless and needy seeking shelter among us, and for all like them. And I pray too that our communities may be places where all are always welcomed, whoever they are.