The two pieces below were congregational contributions to the service at Marshfield on Sunday 10 June, led by Lis Dyson-Jones. I thought them worth reproducing.
THOUGHTS ABOUT A FLOWER
Miles Howarth
This is one of the many flowers from a shrub in our garden, which has been covered in many such flowers at this time of year. It creates joy.
As many of you know, we moved to Marlborough, into our present house, under a year ago. This shrub, and many other plants were in the garden when we came. So in the past someone will have chosen it because it was right for the chalky soil, worked out the best place to put it in the garden and looked after it so it is now flourishing. We ourselves did nothing to put it there. In its own small way it serves as a kind of inheritance from the past, to be enjoyed by anyone who sees it, not just us.
This simple flower can therefore serve as a kind of symbol. Like this flower, there are so many things of value in our lives which are there because someone else, in the past, took the necessary trouble, not knowing who might benefit in future. As well as things of beauty, there are human institutions, inventions, and constructions which enrich our lives and can easily be destroyed. We are merely the trustees for a time. In gratitude for our inheritance we should try to look after them and pass them on, hopefully in even better condition.
THE LAWN DAISY
Sarah Lewis
Simultaneously, self-centered and outward looking; gregarious and risk-taking; interested in the world-beyond-reach.
One of my earliest memories is of sitting on my parents grass lawn; I must have been about three years old. I remember carefully taking off the petals of a daisy, one at a time “What if?” and “How to get right into the middle?”, counting each petal as I went.
Later, I taught myself how to make daisy chains, linking one flower to the next and forming a circle. (Relating, relationships and continuity).
I think of the lawn daisy as a ‘group’ flower, which identifies with other daisies of its kind.
It is also a traveller, explorer and colonist, always on the move, never still, reaching out to others. The daisy lives close to the ground and has an extensive spread:
“We have lawns so we can grow daisies”! (Jim).
The daisy is often under-rated, less valued, seen as a weed, a nuisance, useless – it’s positive qualities unappreciated.
Of course, obliquely, I’m talking about myself. But I am also thinking of both my Dad, a mower of school playing fields’ daisies, my son Kim, who also reaches out to others, and of my oldest friend (of almost 50 years), Raymond who passed away in France one month ago. At his very moving and beautiful Service of Thanksgiving, there were masses of wild flowers, including daisies. (I read ‘A Celtic Prayer’ to all, especially for his family).
This daisy-lover dedicates these words to:
My Dad, Kim, Raymond and Jim, who looks after ‘our’ Daisies.
THOUGHTS ABOUT A FLOWER
Miles Howarth
This is one of the many flowers from a shrub in our garden, which has been covered in many such flowers at this time of year. It creates joy.
As many of you know, we moved to Marlborough, into our present house, under a year ago. This shrub, and many other plants were in the garden when we came. So in the past someone will have chosen it because it was right for the chalky soil, worked out the best place to put it in the garden and looked after it so it is now flourishing. We ourselves did nothing to put it there. In its own small way it serves as a kind of inheritance from the past, to be enjoyed by anyone who sees it, not just us.
This simple flower can therefore serve as a kind of symbol. Like this flower, there are so many things of value in our lives which are there because someone else, in the past, took the necessary trouble, not knowing who might benefit in future. As well as things of beauty, there are human institutions, inventions, and constructions which enrich our lives and can easily be destroyed. We are merely the trustees for a time. In gratitude for our inheritance we should try to look after them and pass them on, hopefully in even better condition.
THE LAWN DAISY
Sarah Lewis
Simultaneously, self-centered and outward looking; gregarious and risk-taking; interested in the world-beyond-reach.
One of my earliest memories is of sitting on my parents grass lawn; I must have been about three years old. I remember carefully taking off the petals of a daisy, one at a time “What if?” and “How to get right into the middle?”, counting each petal as I went.
Later, I taught myself how to make daisy chains, linking one flower to the next and forming a circle. (Relating, relationships and continuity).
I think of the lawn daisy as a ‘group’ flower, which identifies with other daisies of its kind.
It is also a traveller, explorer and colonist, always on the move, never still, reaching out to others. The daisy lives close to the ground and has an extensive spread:
“We have lawns so we can grow daisies”! (Jim).
The daisy is often under-rated, less valued, seen as a weed, a nuisance, useless – it’s positive qualities unappreciated.
Of course, obliquely, I’m talking about myself. But I am also thinking of both my Dad, a mower of school playing fields’ daisies, my son Kim, who also reaches out to others, and of my oldest friend (of almost 50 years), Raymond who passed away in France one month ago. At his very moving and beautiful Service of Thanksgiving, there were masses of wild flowers, including daisies. (I read ‘A Celtic Prayer’ to all, especially for his family).
This daisy-lover dedicates these words to:
My Dad, Kim, Raymond and Jim, who looks after ‘our’ Daisies.
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