Are we good neighbours?

I don’t know about you, but I got MUCH TOO HOT in June and July.

The scorching weather, the weeks without rain - it honestly made me a bit miserable.

The list of casualties in my garden seemed to get longer by the day. Seedlings I had nurtured through the spring and tentatively planted out in late May were completely destroyed, and as for the grass… well the less said on that subject the better!

We know that what we suffer with our gardens is just a microcosm of the stresses our farmers have been under. Grass has grown so poorly that some farmers have already had to feed their winter silage to their cattle. And some arable crop yields are down by as much as 50%.

For the wildlife in our hedgerows and fields, the impact is also significant. Hot, dry weather impacts breeding success as young animals are much less likely to survive in extreme heat, or where water or food sources are diminished.

Although we may think of ourselves as being insulated from some of the climate change around us, we are all connected, all part of the same ecosystem. Any sense that the world “belongs” to us, and that we can do as we will with it (sadly a mindset which was traditionally underpinned by much church teaching) is demonstrably false.

As Christians, we are always told to “Love our neighbour” but we often restrict our view of neighbourliness to the people around us.

Jesus was famously asked the question “But who is my neighbour?” and gave an answer that his audience found both surprising and quite uncomfortable: neighbourliness extended far further than his hearers had anticipated!

(Look up the tale of the Good Samaritan from Luke’s Gospel for the full story he told)

What if we started thinking of the birds, hedgehogs, frogs and beetles, the fish in our watercourses and the cattle in our fields as neighbours to be loved? Could we (for example)

·         cut down our use of chemicals in the garden?

·         set up a bird feeder (and refill it regularly!)?

·         plant a hedge or a tree?

·         create a pond (even a small one is a huge help)?

·         build a bug hotel?

There are lots more ideas here: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/gardening

Even if all you have is a window box, the plants you put in it can make a difference!

Every small action we take, with love and care for our neighbours (human or otherwise) makes a difference.

I hope you have a wonderful autumn, discovering new neighbours, and enjoying their company!

Every Blessing

Revd Kalantha