This month, ‘View from the Pew’ temporarily abandons the cool interior of the church and ventures out into the relative warmth of the churchyard.
Spring was in the air and, because I have recently joined that brotherhood of people who delight in caring for the churchyard, it was time to spend a few pleasant hours walking behind the petrol driven Honda. This meant guiding it between the gravestones, around the shed, along paths, over drains, up and down banks and carefully steering around the tokens of memory left by visitors close to their sleeping loved ones.
Like many of my age, I started mowing with a little hand-powered Suffolk which had two wheels directly driving two curved cylinder blades. That machine had a small, three section wooden front roller, and was much more basic than the green Qualcast with its small diameter front roller but an 8’ rear steel roller.
Nowadays however, the mower used in the churchyard is a far cry from the machines of my youth. It is an even further cry from the scythes and sickles used by the old Sextons and their helpers as they rang the bells and tended the resting places of family, friends, neighbours and, no doubt, the odd enemy.
Just like their latter day counterparts they mowed and trimmed and cut and sheared. They took joy in seeing the green stripes wonderfully left by their labours, and would have marvelled at the modern mower or strimmer as it powers its way through grass, bugle, daisies, nettles and abundant cow parsley.
As they worked, the Sextons of old like the volunteers of today, would find their thoughts turning to people. They would think of those they once knew, and of those still at home. They would also think of the sun and rain and of the promise of spring. They would long for the warmth and flowering of summer but they would think also of the chill of winter.
The volunteers who care for the beautiful churchyards of this Benefice are thoughtful people. They are the deep thinkers of this life. All the time conscious that, beneath their feet lies the sum total of human thought, emotion and experience from the beginning of time. They are keenly aware of the transitory nature of human activity, and they reflect on the trends of the day and ponder the various fashions for this idea or that.
One such thoughtful friend recently told me of the time when his military band was invited to play for a formal dinner given to honour a prominent politician who was known to be promoting anti-drink legislation. At the commencement of the meal, the Colonel rose and ordered the attending officers to be silent whilst the Padre asked a blessing on the meal.
With hands clasped in prayer the Padre said; “We heartily thank thee, O Lord, for thy son Jesus whose first miracle was to turn water into wine.
But forgive, O Lord, those foolish men who want to turn it back again. Amen.
View from the Pew 