Rural Connectivity

Reading DEFRA's Rural Statement 2012 (produced in September), I was interested to learn that the government has made a commitment to ensuring that the UK has the most efficient superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015 and that DEFRA will work to make sure that this will include rural areas. To this end they have introduced three investment programmes

• The Rural Broadband Programme - £530m dedicated to delivering 2Mbp broadband to all rural premises and superfast broadband in 90% of cases.
• The Rural Community Broadband Fund - A £20m fund to help 'hard to reach' communities receive the same services. This fund works by financing 50% of the cost of local initiatives to develop broadband in an area.
• The Mobile Infrastructure Project - £150m in capital expenditure to improve mobile phone coverage (welcome news - we have to hang out of a window or climb up the back garden to hold a mobile conversation!)

There is also support for Local Enterprise Partnerships in the form of research and 
information to help them in their development of local intiatives to get more businesses connected to superfast broadband. There is an organisation called Go On UK working to improve digital skills across the rural population.

All this got me thinking about churches. We still have three churches that do not have electricity in this archdeaconry and several that do not have water. We all know how difficult that makes it to use and maintain the building, romantic candle-lit carol services apart. We are the generation that needs to make sure that our churches don't end up with the same scenario as reagrds broadband. In twenty years time (probably a lot sooner) public buildings which are not connected to broadband will become limited in their potential usefulness and attractiveness as places to gather for community and arts events, worship, education, even for meetings.

The Go ON UK website has information about getting involved and making a difference locally - click on 'Act Now' and go to Organisations. It also tells you how to become a 'Digital Champion' in order to use your skills to help others. I've lifted the UK Digital Skills Charter from their site.

'In 2012, an estimated 16 million adults still do not have the Basic Online Skills to fully benefit from the internet - including 4.6 million people in the workforce. At Go ON UK, we believe that:

• Everyone in the UK should have the Basic Online Skills to enjoy the full benefits of the web
• Everyone deserves world-class digital services that meet their needs and are useable by all
• Communities that don't have the skills to fully enjoy the benefits of the internet should not be left behind
• Every organisation - in the private, public and voluntary sector - has a role to play in building our nation's digital capability.'

This is something that, with our track record of educational opportunity for all and, most importantly, our understanding of God as a God who communicates through word and interpretation, the churches can and should be engaging in. I'd like to see churches encouraging members to become involved in projects to bring broadband and digital skills to the homes and businesses of their area, in using social media themselves as a primary means of communication (among others), and in working to make sure church buildings are included in the communty's plans for broadband.

For more information go to http://www.go-on.co.uk or http://rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk/funding-sources/rural-community  and click on 'site map' then ' Rural Community Broadband Funding.'

Cowthorpe Gathers to Open Bert's Garden

 

Adjacent to the beautiful church of St Michael and All Angels, Cowthorpe, lay a piece of Glebe land. One of the Parish Councillors, Clive Billenness, spotted the fact that it would make an ideal garden - the only area of land in the village which could be open to the public and shared by all. Tockwith and Wilstrop Parish Council purchased the land and a garden was planned and planted. The result is a lovely, sunny corner next to the churchyard, lined with hedges and sheltered by trees, where there are see-saws and twirly saucers for children, seats for the less agile and flower beds for the horticulturists. Yesterday, the village gathered to open the garden which is called Bert's Garden in memory of Bert Rountree who lived opposite the site for many years. The ribbon was cut by Bert's daughter, Sarah. The Cowthorpe Hand Bell Ringers turned out for the occasion and entertained us with 'Grandfather's Clock', 'Oranges and Lemons' and other well known tunes before leading a rousing rendition of 'In an English Country Garden'. This was followed by a very interesting tour of the unique, historic parish church by Derek Gaunt (well worth another visit!) and a slap up bring-and- share tea at the home of Ian and Heather Hartley whose hospitality was particularly generous because their garden had been under water just a couple of days earlier.  English village life at its most resilient, sociable and very best! Thanks also go to The Revd Paul Spurgeon and Hunsingore DCC for their support with this project.  

 

 

An English Country Garden

 

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow

In an English country garden?

We'll tell you now of some that we know

And those we miss you'll surely pardon.

Daffodils, heartsease and phlox,

Meadowsweet and lady smocks,

Gentian, lupins and tall holyhocks,

Roses, foxgloves, snowdrops and forget-me-nots

In an English country garden.

 

How many insects come here and go

In an English country garden?

We'll tell you now of some that we know

And those we miss you'll surely pardon.

Dragonflies, moths, gnats and bees,

Spiders climbing in the tress,

Butterflies drift in the gentle breeze,

There are snakes, ants that sting and other creepy things

In an English country garden.

 

How many songbirds fly to and fro

In an English country garden?

We'll tell you now of some that we know

And those we miss you'll surely pardon.

Bobolink, cuckoo and quail,

Tanager and cardinal,

Bluebird, lark and nightingale.

There is joy in the spring when the birds begin to sing

In an English country garden.



 

 

With many thanks to Clive Billenness and Shaun Stothard for the photos.

 

A Useful Read for Rural Christians

Bishop James and I attended a national conference called Faith and the Future of The Countryside in 2010. It was the subject of my very first ever blog post back in November of that year (when, as I recall, the countryside was under a thick blanket of snow and the farmers were struggling to get out to feed their livestock.) Alan Smith and Jill Hopkinson have now published material that came from that very significant conference and their book is an excellent resource for churches, providing theological reflection and practical pastoral insight for everyone who is concerned about rural life and the place of Christian communities. It tackles more than just churchy issues. There are chapters about

England's Rural Economies
Land and Human Well-Being
How Should We Eat? The Principles and Practice of Just Food
A Theological Perspective on Sustainability
Planning and Housing; Power and Values in Rural Communities
Climate
Older People in the Country
Rural Mental Health and Well-Being
The Metaphor of Trees, Woods and Forests as Symbols of Creation
A Rural Perspective on Christian Formation and the Big Society
The Contribution of Church Tourism to the Rural Economy
The Spread of the Gospel Through the Occasional Offices in a Small Rural Village

12 really engaging chapters (perhaps one a week as a focus for preaching or for reflection at prayer groups?) I am still in the middle of it and finding that the themes of the chapters chime in very much with my everyday ministry. Alan Smith is Bishop of St Albans and co-author with Peter Shaw of The Reflective Leader. Julie Hopkinson is the National Rural Officer for the Church of England and has attended training events for rural and multi parish benefices in our Diocese recently. She co-edited Re-Shaping Rural Ministry. The book is published by Canterbury Press, 2012.

Lammastide

Yesterday (29th July) Farm Crisis Network called for a day of prayer for our farmers. Thank you to Andy Rylands, our rural officer, who has sent this informative article which will help us to pray and think realistically for farmers at this busy time of year.

At Lammas tide, which on August 1^st, it is traditional to take a loaf, made from the first grain of the harvest season, to be blessed in church and to ask for God’s blessing on the ensuing harvest. This loaf is then used to celebrate communion. Given the extremes of weather experienced in the Spring and early Summer this year, it is unlikely that many farmers will be in a position to harvest their crops by this date.

Early in the year while the talk was of drought conditions and hosepipe bans, many crops started to suffer from lack of moisture. Then we experienced unprecedented and near continuous rainfall for several months. Week after week we have heard of new records for high rainfall being established; for the majority of us this has simply been inconvenient while others have suffered dreadfully through repeated flooding. For our farmers, who toil all year long to provide us with the food we need, it can mean disaster.

Mild and wet conditions are ideal for the growth of fungi which attack crops and potentially devastate the yield. This leads to a difficult and potentially poor harvest with grain prices on the increase. Sadly good harvest weather is not in sight as yet, so this is of little comfort.

In the meantime, high grain prices are pushing up feed prices for livestock farmers, who are also suffering at the hands of the weather. Thousands of stock-farmers had to bring their animals back indoors to prevent them damaging valuable grazing land in the wet conditions. Because of this, many are obliged to feed their animals with costly winter forage or costly bought in feed – and with haymaking badly hampered until the weather improves, there is little prospect of being able to replenish those stocks before this coming winter. Without such reserves, many are very worried about the welfare of their animals in the cold months to come. 

On top of all this, we see dairy farmers, many of whom are already trying to cope with the devastation of bovine tuberculosis among their herds, having to contend with draconian price cuts for their milk, bringing them to a level, which for many is totally unsustainable. There is a very real likelihood of many dairy farmers simply going out of business.

Farming has always been a risky business and farmers are well used to managing those risks. This year, however, is proving to be quite exceptional, bringing with it concerns of a much greater magnitude than normal. When these worries are amplified by the isolation of rural living and the sense of neglect felt by many farmers, increasing pressures can prove too much, sometimes resulting in tragic and devastating consequences.  

So this Lammas tide, take a moment to consider the plight of our farmers and their families. They have the burden of  helping to feed the nation while managing and caring for our countryside in such difficult circumstances.

Farm Crisis Network is calling for a day of prayer on Sunday, 29^th July for our farming community who everyday face the consequences of the uncertain weather and who often pay a much higher price than the consumers of their production.

The Right Reverend Donald Allister, Bishop of Peterborough, who is also an FCN Trustee, has composed the following prayer for use on Sunday:

Heavenly Father,

the earth is yours and the harvests are your bounty.

We pray for our arable farmers

in this year of extreme weather.

We pray for our dairy farmers

with supermarkets forcing the price of milk down

and with bovine TB in some parts of the country.

We ask your blessing on the harvest

and on all who work in farming.

We ask that farmers facing difficult times

may know your love

and our support.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

The Price of a Pint

Yes, milk not beer!

Dairy farmers work some of the longest hours of anyone. Today, a month's rain has been forecast to fall over central England and Wales. And it's been churcking it down on and off for most of June. Just imagine having no choice but to go out and milk twice a day, seven days a week, in this! And then there's the six-feet-per-week dry stone walling one of my farmer friends tells me he has to do to keep his miles of walling in good shape. I recently met a farmer's wife who had broken her arm - no time off work for her, she simply had to adapt the way she milked and get it done. The price paid for milk by the large supermarkets simply does not cover the cost of production. And of course the biggest companies are able to influence the market heavily. Smaller farms (and some not so small) are going under week by week. The glorious variety of the British countryside, not to mention its stewardship, which most of us take very much for granted, depend on the survival and health of farms as solid businesses, large and small. If you would like to support your local dairy farmers, please take a moment to consider signing this petition

Dairy farmers must be paid more for their milk - e petition
http://epetitionsdirect.gov.uk/petition6424

For a discussion of the issues
http://fwi.co.uk/articles/06/07/2012/133803/Jim-Paice-on-milk-and-CAP-live-QampA-transcript.html

More Tennants

Having got rid of the squirrels, we now have new tenants in our garden where the plants obviously taste much better than boring old grass!

We are also mourning the loss of one of our pigeons. Nick-named 'Virgil', he had resided in and around the garden for a few years but unfortunately decided to commit suicide by flying into our patio doors last Thursday. His mate is looking very sad and lost.

British Farmers Best in the World

A warning about changes in food markets and methods in farming from our Rural officer, Andy Rylands, also points out the high standards of farming in Britain. Well worth a read.

http://ruralriponandleeds.blogspot.co.uk

Yr Wyddfa

Snowdon, nest of eagles. The view from the summit.

The highest point in Wales and England.

Normally you look up at mountains, here you look down!

From the summit you can see 24 counties, 29 lakes and 17 islands. The Snowdon range is one of the most mysterious and majestic mountain ranges I know. It is so often cloaked in mist and you can, I believe, sense the antiquity of the rocks, formed between 4 and 5 million years ago. There is something about lying quietly in the grass among the mountains of Snowdonia - the quality of the silence is an age-old ache. Yr Wyddfa means 'tomb' or 'tumulus' and it is said that King Arthur slew and buried the mighty giant Rhita Gawr on the summit. Arthur himself died on the ridge between Yr Wyddfa and Y Lliwedd, casting his sword, Excalibur, into the waters of Glaslyn below, while his men retreated to a cave on the slopes of Y Lliwedd until such time as they will be needed. Merlin hid the golden throne of Britain among the cliffs of Crib Y Ddysgl and, to this day, it has never been found. These myths are  drawn from the time of the Saxon invasions of Britain and speak of the struggles between the Celts and Britons against this new wave of invaders.

This is the home of hill farmers - we saw farm dwellings well above 1,000 ft and heard of a local family who have recently moved into one of the farmsteads. It is also the land of poets. It is said that if two people spend the night near the lake at the foot of Clogwyn Ddu'r Arddu, one will go insane and the other will become a great poet. Above all it is country that invites endurance. Sir Edmund Hillary trained for his ascent of Everest on the pyramidal peak - Garnedd Ugain, Yr Wyddfa, Crib Goch and Y Lliwedd together making up the range that is known in Welsh as 'Eryri' - 'uplands' or 'place of eagles.'  But it is Clogwyn Ddu'r Arddu which remains the greatest challenge for mountaineers.

Peaks

Yr Wyddfa 1,085m; Garnedd Ugain 1,065m; Crib Goch 923m; Y Lliwedd 898m; Yr Aran 747m

Lakes

Glaslyn, Llyn Llydaw, Llyn Ffynnongwas, Llyn Ddu'r Arddu, Llyn Teyrn

Paths

Crib Goch (the ridge - mountaineers only!), the Pig Track, Miners' Track, Watkin Path (very demanding!), Rhyd Ddu Path, Snowdon Ranger Path, Llanberis Path (longest ascent), Y Lliwedd (second part of the Snowdon Horseshoe.) 

Summer Hay Meadows

The meadows at the upper end of Swaledale are looking glorious at the moment! Did you know that, in the last hundred years, Britain has lost over 90% of its hay meadows? The sight you see from Gunnerside and Muker today would have been a much more common sight across the whole country at one time. As a consequence, the meadows of Swaledale are now of international biological importance and are still farmed according to traditional methods. The fields are used for grazing livestock throughout the year until late spring when the stock are moved to other pasture to allow the flowers in the meadows to flourish. In July there is a single harvest when the grass is cut and left to dry before being stored in the nearest field barn ready for use as winter fodder. The many field barns scattered arcoss the landscape are a feature of the upper dales. 

Under this regime, each field can have over a 100 species present - small mammals, birds, invertibates and bats and, of course, many wild flowers. The most predominant flower is the buttercup but, in fact, the fields, when looked at closely, can be seen to be home for dozens of colourful varieties of plants. Due to the great biodiversity, these remote upland meadows in the Dales National Park have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. 

Free Afternoon?

Rural Church Support Network

Farm Visit.

The next farm visit will be on Thursday 24^th May starting at 2pm at Welburn Manor.

The host will be Major John Shaw who is responsible for a large arable farm, as well as a beef herd. He is also an advocate of precision farming techniques by utilising GPS technology.

There will also be afternoon refreshments.

The address for the farm is:

Welburn Manor

Welburn

Kirkbymoorside

YO62 7HH

Please contact Janet Bryer on janet.bryer@crc-online.org.uk

(or 0113 243 3413) preferably by Tuesday 22nd May if you intend going.

Tennants

So that explains the frantic rustlings in our roof space. And we were blaming the long tailed tits! Thanks to these new residents with whom we appear to be sharing our home, the electricity has cut out six times today.....the perfect excuse for failing to reply to e mails, of course! When we informed the property department they took swift action (for which we are very grateful), although they did say, 'Oh, but you can't get rid of them, they're so cute!' We will overlook that. Maybe the little darlings will electrocute themselves and save the pest officer a visit? 

Photo Dave Challoner

A Conference for Rural Church Leaders

Andy Ryland, the Rural Officer for the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds writes,

Growing the Rural Church: a Conference for Rural Church Leaders and Members at Scargill House

There are clearly challenges facing rural churches, whatever denominational stream they are from.

With pressure building on a reduced number of paid leaders and clergy, historic buildings to be maintained and communities made up of a cross section of new arrivals and families that have lived in an area for generations, it is not easy pulling the threads together to grow the rural church.

However there are many positive signs of growth from around the country as rural churches have responded to these challenges. 

To help church leaders, clergy, PCC’s and church members learn from others who are making progress growing the rural church, Andy Ryland, Diocesan Rural Officer for Ripon and Leeds, has worked with the Scargill Movement to bring together some of the country’s leading practitioners so that we can learn together how to address three key issues associated with rural church growth.

·         Reaching rural communities both new and long standing

·         Buildings - burden or blessing

·         Enabling participation - empowering the people of God       

The three day conference will address these themes on separate days so you can attend as a day delegate or stay for the three days and enjoy the hospitality and good food that Scargill is building a reputation for, since it reopened in 2010.

Day one: Tuesday 6^th March 2012: Reaching rural communities both new and long standing

Bishop James Bell, Leslie Morley, Simon Mattholie, Bob Baker, Pauline Broadwith and Karin Shaw

Day two: Wednesday 7th March 2012: Buildings - burden or blessing

Peter Aires, Leslie Morley, Nigel Walter, Alice Ullathorne

Day Three: Thursday 8th March 2012: Enabling participation - empowering the people of God       

Pete Atkins, Leslie Morley, Elizabeth Clarke, Sian Lockwood OBE, Cursillo Volunteers

To book your place phone Scargill House, where staff will be able to design a package around how you want to attend the conference, either keeping the cost down as a day delegate or staying over and enjoying the special experience of staying at Scargill at the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

1 Conference Day (including lunch) £19

1 Conference Day and 1 night’s stay £53.75

2 Conference Days and 1 night’s stay £72.75

All 3 Conference Days and 2 nights stay £126.50

All 3 Conference Days and 3 nights stay £180.75

Monday 4pm- Friday 10 am (including Conference) £215

Scargill House, Kettlewell, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 5HU, Tell (01756) 761236   

www.scargillmovement.org

 jo.penn@scargillmovement.org

Book now!

Salmon Fishing in the Ure

Apparently, salmon and sea trout are returning to inhabit the river Ure in encouraging numbers. A hundred years ago the river was famous as one of the finest salmon rivers in the country. Its fast flowing water and many gravel beds made it ideal to support a huge salmon population and around 13 tonnes were caught every year. Sadly, by the 1940s, pollution lower down the river - the Ure joins the Swale to become the Ouse - meant that the salmon had mostly disappeared. They had to swim up the Humber estuary in order to reach the Ure and the more industrial rivers like the Aire and the Calder that flowed into the estuary, as well as the effluents from factories along the Humber, were so heavily polluted that oxygen supplies in the water were insufficient to sustain the salmon.

Aysgarth Falls on the River Ure

Today, the levels of pollution have dropped significantly and wild salmon and sea trout have been returning in encouraging numbers. The Ure Salmon Trust is a body specially formed to return the river to its former place among the major salmon rivers of the UK. Increased salmon fishing will hopefully mean a significant boost for the local economies along the river as those coming to enjoy the sport will contribute to local hotels, restaurants, pubs and tackle shops outside the usual holiday season. Fishing is at its height in the months of Februray - April and September - November. There will also be employment for ghillies who maintain the banks. The Trust has work to do in controlling the erosion that affects the river banks and restocking the river with locally produced fish. It is estimated that it will take five years to restock the river so that popluations reach levels that enable the Ure to make the impact it should be making as a salmon river.
Read more at

http://www.uresalmon.co.uk/

Living Churchyards

Today I received a list of all the churches in the area that are or have been until recently 'managed for wildlife'. This was sent to me by the Yorkshire Living Churchyard Project which is run by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. From the list, it seems as though churches were entering into this enthusiastically about 10 years ago but that some have fallen back a little in recent years. If you would like information on how your church can develop its churchyard ('God's Acre') so that the environment is sympathetic to the natural habitat and the ecology of native plants and animal and insect species, go to

http://www.ywt.org.uk/

Churchyard management seminars are held every year to help people learn more about how to take usually quite simple steps to preserve and encourage the presence of wildlife. Members of the Living Churchyard Team are willing to visit parishes and offer advice. They will list the species seen and heard and create an annotated map of the site to help with planning its care. Often, we just don't realise what we have living in our churchyards! Or what we might be destroying by over-managing them.

Muker Churchyard, Swaledale

Some practical  tips
Headstones are important sites for lichen and mosses, depending on the type of stone. There are around 300 different types of lichen found only in British churchyards. Headstones should not be cleaned (for example, with some of the sprays advertised for the purpose!), but left undisturbed. Grass should not be cut too close to the base of headstones as this may damage both the stone and the equipment used for mowing, and, in fact, the longer grass left at the base provides shelter for some small animals such as frogs.

Boundary hedges are the natural habitat of many species of bird and small mammals. Hedges are best trimmed to an 'A' - thicker at the bottom - with a few feet of uncut grass at the base. This provides shelter and food sources for young hedgehogs. The small ferns and mosses that grow on boundary walls are important. Where walls need restoration, if this is done in sections plants can gradually recolonize the wall. Lime mortar should be used wherever possible.

Trees and shrubs provide nesting sites, look-out posts and insects for birds. Native species should be planted, preferably those that grow naturally in the surrounding countryside. Shrubs that bear berries and nuts such as hawthorn, holly and hazel are valuable for food. Ivy provides nesting sites for wrens and, later in the year, nectar and berries after other food sources have been used up.

Many churchyards were created out of meadowland and provide a natural refuge for species of plants and animals that are being lost through intensive farming. Even a small churchyard may contain over 100 different species. Bees, butterflies, moths, frogs, lizards, birds and small mammals find their home territory there and, where sections of the churchyard are left as meadowland or long grass, rarer plants may move in, such as cowslips and early purple orchids, especially where traditional methods of cutting or grazing have meant that fertilizers and persticides have not been used. Most churchyards have sections of close-mown grass around paths and frequently visited graves. Less frequently visited parts of the churchyard may be kept as permanent short grass (about 4-5 inches) and cutting should be avoided in early May to allow for flowering and seeding. It is also a good idea to create areas of permanent long grass around the churchyard though, to avoid scrub invasion and maintain grass species, these should be divided into sections and a different section cut in autumn of each year. These areas of long grass are important for the overwintering of moth eggs and pupae, frogs, lizards shrews and voles. 

Spring meadow plants 
bird's foot trefoil, cat's ear, red clover, cowslip, lady's smock, bugle

Summer meadow plants
meadow buttercup, meadow cranesbill, ox-eye daisy,knapweed, field sabacious,
yarrow

Hay and grass cuttings
Grass cuttings should be removed if at all possible, to prevent the smothering of smaller flowering plants and to avoid changing the soil composition as the grass decays. Hay cannot be used for livestock if it contains plants harmful to animals such as ragwort. Local councils may operate a composting scheme. If they do not, cuttings are best made into small compost heaps by mixing with the grass with other biodegradable materials such as twigs and pruning waste. This allows air to circulate. Compost left near trees can cause damage to the tree roots. Compost heaps are home to bacteria and invertibrate animals that provide food for frogs, toads, slow worms and birds. Hedgehogs and other small mammals hibernate in them .

Winter Fires and Christmas Trees!

As the clocks go back, the evenings get longer and colder and my thoughts and toes turn gratefully to our wood-burning stove and to the wood pile at our door. The Forestry Commission has a woodfuel plan, designed to increase the number of people using wood as a major source of fuel over the next 5 years. Woodfuel (logs, chips and pellets) is a sustainable, easily replaced, low carbon source of energy that can be used to generate both heat and electricity and it could become an increasingly important part of the UK's renewable energy supply. Woodfuel supplies can be operated best on a local basis and the Forestry Commission is working to develop the supply chain on a sub-national scale, co-operating with regional contractors and businesses (again, saving further energy by reducing transportation.) There is something very satisfying about creating the winter's wood supply, stacking and drying the logs in good time for the cold weather and knowing that it has all been locally grown and the trees felled have each been replaced.

There has been some (in my opinion) nutty discussion of the need to avoid real Christmas trees for the sake of the environment. In fact, real trees take five times less energy to produce than artifical ones and ten times fewer basic materials (many of the plastics used in artificial trees require the release of carbon in their production.) Real trees can be used to make compost after you have finished with them (or burned as fuel). The Forestry Commission gives a guarantee that all its trees and all trees grown on sites that it inspects are sustainably grown; for every tree felled, one is planted. And what could be better than the smell of sap from a Norway Spruce - the traditional Christmas tree? A Nordmann fir or a Lodgepole pine is also good, but my personal favourite is the Douglas fir with its bluey tinge and robust needles that do not drop.  

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/england    

Rural Officer's Pumpkin Expertise

Photo taken from the Ripon and Leeds
 Diocesan website

Read all about our Rural Officer's amazing ability with pumpkins on

http://www.riponleeds.anglican.org/news-417.html

And all was in aid of the work of
http://www.farmcrisisnetwork.org.uk/



Harvest

Harvest celebrations have been taking place all round the archdeaconry. If you have any photos of your parish's special services send them in and I'll post them on the blog - or any good ideas, things that worked well that we can all try out next year! On Sunday evening our most northerly parishes celebrated up at St Romald's, Romaldkirk with a service that included prayers for the farming community and the presentation of gifts including an empty bowl to remind us of our responsibility towards those who do not enjoy rich harvests or even enough to eat and drink. The service was led by the Ven. Stephen Adesanya and the choir sang a harvest anthem. There was a suitably sumptious spread in church afterwards and it was lovely to find there were guests from London and someone who had newly moved into the village as well as people from across the parishes of Laithkirk, Romaldkirk with Cotherstone and Bowes. It was wonderful to enjoy the warmth of hospitality and fellowship.



 On Sunday morning, the cathedral celebrated Harvest with the help of some members of the Bethany Project from Tanzania and you can read all about this on the cathedral website. Bishop John preached and the cathedral band played.

http://www.riponcathedral.org.uk/

God, the beginning and ending of all things

in Your providence and care, you watch unceasingly over all creation;

We offer our prayers and thanksgiving that, in us and in all people,

You will may be done according to Your wise and loving purpoes

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

We pray for all through whom we receive sustinance and life,

for all farming families who work so hard, often in adverse conditions,

to provide our food and look after our countryside,

for packers, distributors and retailers.

We pray for young people in farming, for Young Farmers clubs,

for those studying at argricultural college and for the next generation of farmers

as they bring new skills, energy and vision to the care of the coutryside

and the produstion of food in sustainable ways.

We pray for governments and aid agencies in areas of the world

where there is disaster, drought and starvation,

for all involved in agricultural research who face the challenge

 to produce more food for a growing world, without harming the environment;

grant us all generous hearts in the face of immediate crises.

We offer ourselves to Your service, asking that, by the Spirit at work in us,

others may receive a rich harvest of love and joy and peace.

Amen.

The Bible in a Digital Age

Codec (n) co'dec:  A device for coverting data from one format to another, esp. from analogue to digital format. In communications engineering, an integrated circuit or chip. The term is an acronym for 'coder/decoder'.

Research Centre in Biblical and Media Literacy
Durham University

 http://www.durham.ac.uk/codec

What difference does the digital age make to the ways we think and do things in our churches and faith communities? We're living through a revolution that will have as great an effect on society as the printing press did - probably much greater and more far reaching, in fact. Whether we understand the digital world and use socia networking media or not, they are having an impact on our lives all the time. Life is speeding up, information about us is held in ways that we don't know about but which shapes our lives, relationships are formed differently and are less embodied, our real and digital identities may not be the same, so questions of authenticity and truth arise. I could go on... The other end of the spectrum leads to the realm of the really quite mind blowing. What does theology have to say about brains that have been digitally enhanced and can therefore out-think everyone who has only a 'natural' brain? It makes in vitro fertilization and genetic engineering seem a bit tame, really! Then there are the justice and power shaped questions about who is included and excluded from the digital world. And the questions about sacramentality in a disembodied world.  

I spent a fascinating day in Durham, yesterday, hearing all about CODEC, a research project based at St John's College, Durham University. It was established in 2008 to develop a national survey of levels of Biblical literacy. Since then it has gone on to gain a national and international reputation in the whole area of Christian communication in the digtal age. The project is asking

• How does the 21st century world interact with the world of the Christian faith and vice versa?
• How do we communicate our faith with its ancient roots in a digital world?
• How do we allow the insights born of faith, discipline and wisdom in a Biblical sense to help us be properly critical of a digital world in which the impetus to react to everything out there, or as much of it as possible, is very strong?  

CODEC has done work for a number of agencies and individuals such as MPs and peers, the Church of England, the Methodist Church, Premier Christian Media, the Bible Society and SPCK as well as contributing to TV and radio in the UK and abroad. It has worked with the Faith and Globalisation Porject at Durham University and the Tony Blair Foundation to establish Faith online 0.2 We benefit from it locally because of the North Yorkshire Dales Biblical Literacy Project which has a project worker, David Wood, working in Swaledale and Wensleydale to promote understanding of the Bible and to reserach how it has an impact on community life in rural communities. 

The Revd Dr Pete Phillips, Director of CODEC
 at Durham University

You might be interested in looking at the BigBible website which has a mass of material about the Bible - events, stories of social action inspired by the Bible and projects focusing on the Bible, including Tom Wright's The BigRead12 - Lent group resources on Mark's gospel.  http://www.bigbible.org.uk/

CODEC also hosts preaching conferences which concentrate on apologetics in a digital age and the use of imagination in preaching. The conferences make use of research and material by some of the leading Biblical scholars. You can find details of these on the CODEC website http://www.durham.ac.uk/codec

The Revd Kate Bruce,
Research Fellow in Preaching,
CODEC, Durham University

This is a wonderful (and very practical) resource for us in North Yorkshire, especially those of us who preach, teach, blog and use other social media. This is the up and coming area of hermeneutic study - the study of interpretation across languages, social groups, media which is at the heart of incarnational theology.