St Andrew's is awarded Bronze

Through looking at ways the church could take practical action in caring for the environment, and making key changes in five areas: the building, churchyard, community and global engagement, lifestyle, worship and teaching, St Andrews has attained bronze level in the Eco Church initiative. 

The UK, denomination-wide, charitable project provides a framework and inspiration for congregations taking positive, practical action in caring for our environment as a faith response to climate change. Look out for four new bird boxes, new hedging, a wildflower walkway as well as future community projects to build bug hotels and create a water area for wildlife and opportunities to volunteer in the new graveyard management scheme. 

We have also recently created a Labyrinth by the entrance to the graveyard. A picture is attached.

Thanks to the Rev’d Judy Miller and her husband Alan for their leadership and support. St Andrews is the first of the eight Sole Bay Team churches to achieve the award and a wooden plaque will shortly be erected in the Church.

The Story of Creation is echoed in the All-Age informal Service held on the fourth Sunday of every month which references large scale stitched fabric artworks made by Jacqui Parkinson. 

April’s theme is God Created the Earth so join us outdoors, weather permitting, by the allotments behind the Village Hall for coffee at 10.45, service at 11.15am.  We’ll be planting beans in loo rolls! 

Stephanie Renouf

April 8, 2024

The LabyrinthReasons to walk a labyrinth:

  • To give thanks or solve a problem
  • To take time out or dream
  • To seek guidance or resolve a conflict
  • To grieve a loss or release a fear
  • To pray to God or
  • Just for fun

As part of the Eco Church Churchyard management plan, St Andrew’s PCC agreed to establish a grass and wildflower labyrinth in the churchyard. Ours is a modified Chartres design, as limited space was available for it.

We began by mowing the pattern into the grass and sowing some native wildflower seeds into the longer grass on Friday 5th April 2024. The path will regularly be mown but the grass and wildflower ‘walls’ creating the pathway will gradually grow longer.  Hopefully, some of the seeds will take root and display alongside existing wildflowers within the soil as spring moves into summer, creating a sensory experience as you walk. We are also growing some seeds at home to use as plug plants. Later in the season, the grass will be cut back and rest, allowing seeds to release to provide next year’s display. 

Please walk and discover our labyrinth. A labyrinth is not a maze- there are no choices or decisions to make, there is one way in and the same way out, reversed. You walk to the centre, where you can stop before you return. As you walk you can engage in themes of journey and relationship: you may enter sorrowfully or joyfully, prayerfully, or thoughtfully; therefore, it can be a walking meditation. Many years ago, Augustine wrote of the concept ‘Solivitur Ambulando’ meaning ‘it is solved by walking’, why not try this for yourself?

Walking with FOCUS: pause and wait at the start, be still, quiet, and centred before you begin. You can set an intention, or a prayer, to focus on.

Walk to EXPERIENCE: Walk purposefully. Observe the process, look at what you see at each turn, think about the different views and perspectives this gives you. The inward journey can be a ‘letting go’. 

Come to the still centre and pause. Use your senses and register the things that most capture your attention. This can ‘centering’. 

Turn to leave when you are ready, notice what you might not have seen on the way in. The outward journey can result in the realisation of what you have understood in the act of walking with intent. As such it can be ‘incarnational’.

As you come to the EXIT, which is where you began, how do you feel? 

Afterwards, REFLECT on your experience- write or draw something to capture your experience and please share it with us, if you are happy to. 

 

Revd. Judy Miller, Associate Priest Sole Bay Team Ministry judym61@btinternet.com