The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.

January

"This last year has reminded us that this world is not always an easy or a safe place to live in

— but it is the only place we have."

HM The Queen, 25th December 2005

Earth & Moon

February

Bored Moose

"Only those who want everything done for them are bored."

- Billy Graham

March

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.

- Audra Foveo

Daffodils

"Lent is supposed to be a time when we review our spiritual life, think again about what it means to be a follower of Christ, reset the compass of our discipleship and prepare ourselves to celebrate the Easter festival. But often we just give up biscuits."

- Quoted by Maggie Dawn and credited to Stephen Cottrell (I Thirst, p. 12)

April

Tomato "Jesus said, 'The harvest is plentiful' (Matt 9:37), and indeed it is. But . . harvesting people for the Kingdom of God is not so much like harvesting corn as like harvesting tomatoes. A field of corn ripens all at once, and the reaper or the combine-harvester moves into it and harvests every stalk and every ear in a single day. A crop of tomatoes, on the other hand, ripens one by one. The picker must go out day after day and gather in those which are ripe. Others are still green, others still only just beginning life as little yellow flowers. These will be the harvest next week, or the harvest in weeks to come. The joy of ministry in the local church, as opposed to the ministry of Billy Graham, is that it does not all have to happen tonight. Perhaps God will send real revival to our villages (we do pray he will) and we will gather in great sheaves of corn all at once. For the time being the task which he has given us is that of watching and picking in the tomatoes as and when they ripen, one by one. But there is a harvest — slow perhaps, but steady — and that is exciting."

- Martin Down; "Speak To These Bones", Monarch Publications (1993) p.130.

May

Bluebells in Cole Wood

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you?

- Jesus Christ (as quoted by His friend Matthew)

NLT version (Matt. 6.28-30)

June

"On the face of it, it does seem that country people (including those who have moved out from the town) have a greater expectation of the church than those who live in urban areas. There are two ways of meeting this expectation and they are virtually diametrically opposite.

The first way is for the church to see itself entirely as a gathered community living up to its name as those 'called out' from the community. In this case those 'outside' will be seen to be precisely that and will need to be directly evangelized to draw them in.

The second possibility to see the church in much vaguer terms with indefinite boundaries which embrace all those who believe they have a part to play in church life, however infrequently they attend worship. Evangelism then is more to do with drawing people closer to Christ rather than expecting them to cross any particular boundary. A further complication is that many of those involved in this way may find it impossible to articulate what it is that they actually believe.

Put starkly, the problem is that the former appears to be the New Testament model for the church whereas the second is the rural reality. It is important for a church to know which model it is using because it has great implications for every part of its life including its worship."

- David Cutts; “Worship In The Countryside” , Grove Worship Series No. 114 (1990), p.15 [Some comments on the worship aspects of the report of the Archbishops' Commission on Rural Areas.]

July

Playtable

When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability... To be alive is to be vulnerable.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918 - )

["Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art", 1980]

August

Deer at Arne

"If you come to think of it, you never see deer, dogs and rabbits worrying about their menus and yet they run much faster than humans."

- Emil Zatopek

"If God gives such attention to the wild flowers, most of them never even seen, don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself."

- Jesus Christ (Luke 12:28)

September

"Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new."
- Ursula K. Le Guin

October

"The butterfly's attractiveness derives not only from colours and symmetry: deeper motives contribute to it. We would not think them so beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the value of a badly decoded message, a symbol, a sign."

- Primo Levi

November

"Just as we have to seek gold in the earth, for the kernel in the shell, for the chestnut's hidden fruit beneath its hairy coverings, so in Holy Scripture we have to dig deep for its divine meaning."

- Jerome

December

Banksia "Banksia plants are naturally adapted to the presence of regular bushfires in the Australian landscape. About half of Banksia species are killed by bushfire, but these regenerate quickly from seed, as fire also stimulates the opening of seed-bearing follicles and the germination of seed in the ground. ."

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia

"The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honour to God. This will happen when Jesus Christ appears again."

- 1 Peter 1:7 [God's Word translation]

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