Coming Soon

Looking Ahead

Christmas Cards

If you are thinking about buying your Christmas cards, you may want to consider sending your own greeting to friends at Hazelwell as part of a big, combined card.

At the last JCC meeting it was suggested that folk could send their greeting for inclusion in a big card which will be printed and displayed in church , sent out by e-mail and posted to those who receive weekly newsletters through the post. If anyone wishes to donate money thus saved, then a collection box for donations to the church building repair and renovation will be available in December..

Excerpts from Harvest Sermon by the Rev Bryan Owen

When I had my evening meal the other day I tried to identify where all the food came from. The easiest answer to that, of course, is Tesco’s and for many people that’s the beginning and end of the food chain. Meat comes hygienically wrapped, vegetables and fruit are fresh and there are cans and bottles of just about everything you might desire. And, of course, every little helps.

But knowing Harvest Festival was approaching I thought about my meal a bit more. The potatoes and broccoli came from farms somewhere in England; the chicken came from somewhere in Scotland; the bacon came from pigs raised in Denmark; the flour in the sauce may have come from the US or Canada; the olive oil I cooked it in came from Spain; and the spices I used came from many different parts of the world.

Then I thought about the dessert: the rice came from Malawi; the milk and cream from cows near where I live; the sugar came from the West Indies; the raisins came from Turkey and the vanilla came from the island of Madagascar.

Every time I sit down for a meal, I take a moment to be thankful. From places far away the food has been harvested by people often earning very little money. Our food has been transported by ship and lorry. It has been processed somewhere in Britain and put on the shelves by people like you and me working in our local supermarkets. If any of those chains were to be broken by drought or war or strikes or economic collapse then, of course, the food wouldn’t be there on my plate or yours at all.

The World Bank has said key grains such as corn, wheat and soybean have seen the most dramatic increases ever which they describe as "historic".

We may think food prices here in Britain are going up too much but what about the poorest countries? Maize prices have gone up by 113% in the last three months in Mozambique, while sorghum wheat has risen 220% in South Sudan. These are just two examples of impossible price rises in places where people have the least money to pay.

In many ways buying our food from the supermarkets has made us forget how fickle the weather can be. Truth be told, failed harvests happen somewhere in the world all the time.

Amen

Can we do anything to ameliorate the effects of climate change?

Maybe we can support the work of WaterAid to do so.