Welcome to our Renewing Hope Advent Calendar of stories, sent to recipients of Grapevine or Working Together. We invite you to open a story a day between now and Christmas Eve to open a window onto the ministry and mission in our Diocese. Please do share on with friends and family and neighbours!
(If you would rather not receive these stories during Advent,click here to unsubscribe - Grapevine or Working Together will continue to arrive. For best results, click here to view this email in your browser.)
23rd December
Christmas is nearly here. And while we know know 2020 will be a very different Christmas for most of us, for our farmers, the daily work on the farm continues regardless of the season or Covid. A large percentage of our Diocese is rural, and our farming communities play a big part in the life and work of our churches and schools. Our Lord was born into a rural farming community and we cannot forget that his first visitors were shepherds, who had followed the star to the stable. They did this despite being concerned for the safety of the flock they had left behind on the hillside.
Behind the 23rd and penultimate window on our Advent Calendar of Comfort and Joy, we learn a little more about the concerns that will surround our modern day shepherds this Christmas.
'While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks'
The Revd Richard Kirlew Rural Officer for Dorset and Lead Rural Chaplain, Sherborne Deanery Rural Chaplaincy
Shepherds in those days were viewed as the underclass. They were just hired hands to keep an eye on the flocks. Jesus was a king for all people, from the lowest of the low to the 3 kings themselves – 2 extremes in character.
So let us move forward around 2,000 years. Shepherds today are highly trained and trusted individuals.
I was with one such shepherd during this week at market in Salisbury. He was selling all the lambs he had left, around 280. He was concerned that, after 1st January under new trade rules, he would have to pay a tariff on them as a lot of his lambs were exported.
In fact, more than half the lamb we produce is exported, with a large proportion of that going to Europe! So he decided to sell the lambs and retain all the ewes. That farmer was not exactly bursting “with great joy”. Even as I write this, we do not know what the result of the negotiations will be.
All this uncertainty can lead to severe anxiety, stress, and depression. It is a well-known fact that farming has the highest incidence of male suicide of any industry in the UK. However, farmers have an amazing sense of resilience and self-preservation. They must be resilient, working against such amazing odds. So it is a massive privilege to minister to farmers and the rural world. I really do hope that the farmer at market will have the true joy of Christmas to warm his heart.
I am immensely blessed to be a rural chaplain working in such an amazing place as Dorset with wonderful people, hopefully bringing a glimpse of what the Angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people”. I feel that God is calling us all to do exactly that, not just to farmers, but to those near where we live.
May we all have an incredibly happy and joyous Christmas!
If you are posting photos or messages on social media,
please use the hashtags #dosaladvent, #dosalchristmas and #dosalchristingle to tie together all the events, photos and messages from across our Diocese.
‘#ComfortAndJoy’ is the official Church of England Christmas campaign.
Feel free to enrich the national picture with your local content, using this tag.
