Words of Light and Hope from Helena Crockford LLM

Words of Light and Hope – Rural Mission Sunday Helena Crockford LLM

Rural Mission Sunday, the third Sunday in July, is an opportunity to celebrate and pray for the work of rural churches. The Norfolk countryside around us is easy to praise in its summer beauty, sunsets, hay making and harvesting. Rural churches provide blessed spaces in the depths of our benefice, offering glory to God and their communities through worship and creativity – both Salle and Wood Dalling churches hosted beautiful summer concerts in recent weeks. But rural life also has challenges, with isolation an important problem. The local rural charity You Are Not Alone (YANA) offers mental health support for those working in agriculture and other rural businesses (www.yanahelp.org).

Philip Larkin’s poem, ‘Church Going’ (1954) conveys something of the enduring draw and mystery of stumbling upon a country church – here are the first and last verses:   Once I am sure there’s nothing going on I step inside, letting the door thud shut.        Another church: matting, seats, and stone, And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff Up at the holy end; the small neat  organ; And a tense, musty, unignorable silence, Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off My cycle-clips in awkward reverence….   ….A serious house on serious earth it is, In whose blent air all our compulsions meet, Are recognised, and robed as destinies. And that much never can be obsolete, Since someone will forever be surprising A hunger in himself to be more serious, And gravitating with it to this ground, Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in, If only that so many dead lie round.

Mother Teresa is quoted as saying: “The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more  dying for a little love.”

Prayer for Community and Connection by Rev E Clark: Loving God You have made us social beings who need to be part of a community. We pray for all those who feel lonely and isolated today. Help us to build communities where we live, work and spend our leisure time. Remind us that as we look at each other we are looking into the face of Christ. Help us to spread your love to those around us. In Jesus Name, Amen