Message from Reverend Carolyn....

I am writing for the first time as the new Rector of your benefice. My husband John and I moved into the Rectory in Blakesley on March 10th. Now after celebrating Easter in our churches which was a great joy, we are becoming used to our new surroundings. Thank you to those who have kindly sent us cards and gifts - believe me that each one has been very much appreciated.

As I am writing this morning it is pouring with rain! Yet we know that the drought this year is more severe than anything we have known in the UK in recent times. I was visiting a farm over in Summerton the other day and it came up in the conversation that the bore hole that supplies water to not just the farm but to all the surrounding cottages, suddenly dried up on Good Friday for the first time in living memory.

Water is of course such a basic necessity for life that we are all of us wondering what will happen. Farmers are in the front line of anxiety for the months ahead. We need light rain to soften the cracked ground so that if steady rain comes, it will not be wasted. With all the other reductions in services from the government cuts, it is easy perhaps to deny the reality of something so readily available as water from the tap.

Most of the time we feel in control of the things that we need for a prosperous and comfortable life, at least as far as the basics are concerned. This water shortage has rather crept up on us unawares, reminding us that it is the one thing that is completely beyond our powers to produce. Yet the true situation perhaps is that many of our needs, like oil for our cars and food that comes to us from around the world, rely on a fragile network of services. We all of us rely heavily on one another, and ultimately on a generous God who in Jesus has more than proved His love and  determination to give us all that we need.

I hope that as the summer months unfold, we will begin to see how the present impasse will unfold in ways that may be inconvenient but not disastrous. But as we live with this insecurity, please let me know if I can be of use to support or listen to those whose lives are affected. In the meantime I promise that I shall be praying for our farm land and stock and for our readiness to be thankful for the One in whose hands we live and breathe and have our being.

With love and prayers,

Carolyn