Dear Friends and Parishioners,

The months of plenty and fullness are upon us; fruit and flowers and fat ears of corn.

Some years ago now at Pattesley, near Fakenham, a  lovely lunch was arranged , with a short outdoor Service to mark Lammas. The first wheat was milled to make bread, with a baron of beef and with every local good thing we celebrated harvest.

Mankind of course always has, and all religions do. It’s enjoyable, it’s natural and it’s an act of gratitude. Only the rudest of customers never say thank you to those who serve them. And have we not , we who live in this little paradise of fruitful land and bountiful sea, much to give thanks for?

Should we not reverence our food and those who provide it? Should we not respect the land and the sea? And here is ancient wisdom. “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth , and every tree, in which is upon the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth  upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.  And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good.”

The book of Genesis, chapter 1 versus 29 to 31.

May I wish you Peace and Plenty, Pax and Bonum.

Yours truly,

Ian Whittle The Rectory, Langham