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Fields of Hope.


Fields of Hope

From ages 8-12 I lived in a small mining village in Fife and enjoyed exploring the fields and woods which surrounded us. One route to a friend’s house went by some turnip fields and it always amazed me that they could seem so empty for a long time and then gradually the crop would appear bit by bit, even though most of it was under the ground.   I have a memory of even stealing one with my pal…nothing like a freshly caught ‘tumchee’ (as they call them in Fife).   


What got me thinking along these lines was a conversation I had today with one of my fellow minsters at our weekly prayer time.   He was telling the story of last week seeing a 2ft. fish in the canal here in Bishopbriggs and then warning an angler that it was heading his way.   The angler replied that the canal is full of 2ft. fish now because there are no barges or other boats disturbing the water.  

Whether it is quiet fields that gradually return a harvest, or quiet canal waters that allow fish to reappear, our own quiet time of lockdown is I believe a season that will bring its own fruitfulness in the months to come.  We need to be patient and allow the season to do its work, but new things are coming and signs of hope are appearing.  
Even within our own church context there are plenty signs of this from more people attending our zoom services than our usual Sunday services, more people joining for daily prayer or small groups than ever before or even in putting up a new church sign.
I know this last may not seem much, but for 40 years our church building has been passed by numerous folk who had no idea it was a church.    Now the sign is up and it’s a statement of confidence in the future and the God who will restore the building to the many community groups that use it and the church members too. The quietness and stillness of the church building incubates within it many signs of new life in the living church of its members.
This also includes the launching of our new church website at the end of June hopefully.   As we build on the best of the past but really engage with the new digital reality, the hidden labour of writing and re writing for a new generation and a new external context will I believe also bear fruit in the months and years to come.
‘I am making everything new’ (Revelation 21:5) is a hope and dream for so many, and it may seem impossible at times.   The tragic events in the USA recently raise the question, can things truly be different this time, can things be new?   Those who long for a clean environment are hoping against hope that maybe this time things will be different and that with a green economy things will be new.   What are your hopes as you live through these weeks of our fallow, quiet time?  What new things may yet be born in your life?

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