From Rev'd Louise

Monthly reflection

September 2025 Deeply rooted

Two news stories have caught my attention recently. One is the various accounts about ‘autumn coming early,’ and the experts’ response. The other is accounts about the impact of solar farms on agriculture. Both of these caught my attention because as I reflected on them, I also found myself reflecting on my faith.

I’m sure most of us will have noticed ‘signs of autumn;’ trees dropping their leaves, blackberries ripe, or even mostly over, and so on. In the vicarage garden, we have a very mixed picture. Some plants, like runner beans, chard, chillies and tomatoes, are producing the best harvest we’ve had since we came to Bradwell. Others, like rhubarb, raspberries and blackberries, are doing poorly or finishing early. Experts are saying that what we are seeing is not an ‘early autumn,’ (autumn changes are triggered by changes in daylight length) but is the result of plants being stressed by the very hot and dry spring and summer we’ve had. But what really resonated with me was their comment that the plants that have coped best with this year’s challenging weather are those that are deep rooted.

I am reminded of the many passages in the Bible urging hearers to be ‘rooted’ in God’s love. From Psalm 1, saying that those who ‘delight’ in the ways of God are like trees rooted by streams of water, never withering and continually bearing fruit, through to many passages in the letters written by the apostle St Paul to early Christian churches. For example, in Colossians chapter 2 and in Ephesians chapter 3, Paul urges believers to let their ‘roots’ grow deeply down into the love of Christ, so that they may be filled with the ‘fulness of God,’ and God may work through their lives. And throughout Christian history there are countless examples – maybe, like me, you’ve seen some of them – of people who have a deep faith showing strength and resilience in times of difficulty, and being able to offer support to others experiencing burdens of many kinds.

But what about the solar farms? Well, there has been a lot of research showing that crops produce higher yields when grown under solar panels, but the latest that caught my attention was research from France showing that grape yields increase by between 30% and 60% when vines are grown under solar panels. And I found myself reflecting that, just as crops benefit from shade and shelter, we all have times too when, however deep our roots, we need shelter and protection. And again, the Bible urges us to seek the protection we need ‘under the shadow of God’s wings,’ The Bible is full of imagery of God as protector and safe space.

So my prayer for all of us this month is that, however we understand God, we might each seek to live our lives deeply rooted in love, finding the protection and care that we need ourselves, and being able to ‘bear fruit’ by offering love and care to others.

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August 2025 What if....?

Recently we drove through a place that we might have lived at, and it triggered for me my occasional musing about the apparently random path that life can take. At such times, I find myself asking questions such as, What if we had chosen that house rather than the one we did? What if we had pursued that job rather than the one we did? And so on.

There will be times in life for most of us when those ‘what if..?’ questions can be a source of great pain and distress, such as when we face bereavement or tragedy for ourselves or our loved ones. And at such times we may well all need the support and reassurance of others. But there may well be other times when we simply look back and wonder what our life might have been like if we had made different choices, if we had followed a different path.

I have heard it suggested that most people only make a small handful of big choices and decisions in life. Things like: What sort of person do I want to be? What values do I want to shape my life around? All of our other, smaller, choices tend to flow from those big choices we have made. One of my big choices has been the choice to try to ‘tread lightly’ though this life, trying to cherish all life and trying, as far as I can, to avoid doing harm to any.

Christianity often describes our life as a journey where, as we travel through life, we make decisions about the route we should take. One view, among a range of Christian views, describes our life as like a route on a map that God has already marked out for us. This view says that we follow the route through life that God has chosen for us, with only a limited ability to change that route. Another view describes God’s influence in our life as being more like a compass than a map. Every time we face a choice or a decision, we can reflect on what we know of God’s values, and we can either choose whatever we believe will bring us closer to God, or we can choose another path. But even ir we choose a path that takes us further from God, we can always choose to turn back towards him next time we have a choice to make. This view believes that because God made us, we all have within us a ‘compass’ that points to God, and at every moment in our lives we can choose whether or not we want to follow where that ‘compass’ points.

So my prayer for all of us this month is that we would each become more aware of the choices we do make, and more aware of the choices we are able to make. And whatever we believe, or don’t believe, about God, my prayer is that we would each choose to follow his values of kindness and justice and care for all.

July 2025 A Celebration of Art and Nature

Since Richard and I moved back to Derbyshire ten years ago, summer has become very much linked for us with the traditional Derbyshire Well Dressings. And every year I am amazed and impressed by the skill and originality and creativity of these wonderful ‘natural’ artworks.

I have discovered that there seem to be as many different explanations about the origins and the age of the Well Dressing traditions as there are villages taking part. But back in the roots of the vast majority of these, there usually seems to be something about celebrating and giving thanks for the wonderful gift of water, that we can so easily take for granted until it is in short supply. And as we celebrate the gift of water, it always feels appropriate to me that how well the Well Dressings last is very much linked to the weather, linked to how much moisture is in the atmosphere, and linked to how quickly the boards dry out.

Every year, I love seeing the incredible skill of those who have been making Wells for years, sometimes for decades. But I also especially enjoy seeing the results of the children’s efforts, the Wells produced by those just starting out on this ancient tradition. My own efforts at natural artwork have been very much more modest. As a child, I remember my brother and I creating a model desert out of what was left of our lawn one particularly dry summer. And I remember one summer holiday when we devoted hours to creating pictures using only chalk from the local hills, and dyes of every colour under the sun that we made from local plants and flowers.

I am pretty certain that there is not much chance of me becoming a skilled artist, with natural or any other materials, but what a childhood spent very close to the natural world has given me, is a very deep appreciation of all life, and a very strong sense of how all parts of the natural world are linked and dependent on one another, and a keen awareness of how we are part of the ecosystems that sustain us.

As a Christian, I care about protecting the natural environment because it is the poorest in the world who are harmed first and harmed most by climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution. But most of all I care about protecting the natural environment because I believe that the natural world is created in God’s image, just as thoroughly as humanity is, and that when we damage the natural world, we hurt God, and we destroy part of God’s image in ourselves.

So my prayer for all of us this month is that we would each grow continually in our awareness of the natural world around us, and we would learn to love all creation as we love ourselves.