'Seeds of the past sown for the future' - Reflection 13th October 2025

Today at St Oswald’s Rugby we had a very fulsome Service with Bishop Sophie. She was with us to dedicate the refurbished Church which included prayers for various ‘items,’ the Holy Table, the Lectern and a War Memorial made from a repurposed pew.  We also had six people of various ages Confirmed along with four children Admitted to First Communion.

Historically St Oswald’s, built in 1864, was Anglo-Catholic and its style and the furnishing and fabric reflected this. .

We were reminded today that in 2020 the PCC began to consider the condition in which the Church building had fallen. The first step was to recognise the failings in looking after the legacy of previous generations. From there it was time to move forward with bold ambitious plans for a total refurbishment. Since the move of St Matthews, a thriving Evangelical Church, to St Oswald’s in 2011 it has moved more towards the Evangelical tradition.  

For me, it was a delight to see the care, love and attention given to ensure nothing of the ‘ornaments’ of it Anglo-Catholic legacy where not simply discarded. Everything from the Rood Screen and a huge Cross and many other items found a good home.  The ‘Stations of the Cross’ have been replaced on one wall but not disposed.  A pew has become a lovely board with brass plaques as a War Memorial.  Other pews have been used to build a gorgeous sound desk. The transition is truly breathtaking. And now there is a functional and comfortable building that is available to be used not only for the purpose of worship but also for a wide range of purposes for the wider community.

And all of this has been done with a mind to becoming carbon neutral with items such as heat pumps and later solar panel are going to be installed. These undertakings amongst other things have led us to be awarded the Arocha Gold Award. (A Rocha UK – Caring for creation) This was given to Malcolm Wright by Bishop Sophie as part of the celebrations.  Malcolm  heads up our Church Eco Group.

                                                      St Oswald's have regular Litter Picks.

It can truly be said that in building for the future great care was taken to respect the past.

And in her sermon Bishop Sophie said, ‘that the future is built on the seeds of the past.’

On Thursday last I helped with the Harvest Services from two of our local Primary Schools, St Matthew’s and St Oswald’s. Again, it was a delight to see everyone seated and comfortable on the chairs, everything could be heard and seen clearly thanks to the new audio and visual equipment. And as part of the refurbishment the former vestry has been turned into a separate room with a window so that you can see into the Church and the sound is relayed. This has been called The Nest and is kitted out to accommodate those with special needs. It was wonderful to see this being used by one of the children with his assistant.
My part in the Service is as a puppeteer with a puppet called ‘Grandad’ who helps his grandson James who always seems to be getting things wrong or misunderstanding what he has been told. Grandad gently helps James navigate through various things he is trying to understand.

One of the ‘items’ spoken about during the Service was a loaf of bread. The children were invited to consider how a loaf of bread came to be on our Supermarket shelves with the help of PowerPoint slides. 

Tracing this all the way back to Gensis 1.29, ‘Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with its seed in it. They will be yours for food.”  (No meat at this stage!)

The result of these ‘seeds’ I have been reflecting on have brought joy and hope but what about other types of seeds. What about the seeds such as those being sown in Gaza or Ukraine or in many other places across the world. What about the seeds sown by poverty, by bad parenting and damage done to children. That ‘damage’ sometimes resulting in people finding themselves in prison as those seeds bear fruit.  

Some people view such ‘miscreants’ as utterly beyond redemption, the seeds sown earlier have brought their own type of fruit, fruit we do not want or care to have living in the community and much better to see it locked away.  And yet it is worth reminding ourselves that John Newton was a former slave trader and yet went on to write ‘Amazing Grace.’

And this month we begin to see a new Restorative Justice programme being trialled, birthed out of the seeds of the Sycamore Tree Course.

‘The future is built on the seeds of the past.’ 

Therefore, as much as it lies within us, let us ensure we plant good seeds, seeds of forgiveness, generosity, love and kindness, to name but a few. 

Galatians 5.22-23 ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’

That is the kind of fruit we so desperately need to see everywhere, in our lives, amongst our family and friends and across the nation and the wider world.  Such ‘fruit’ would make prisons unnecessary.  Now that is something to dream about, pray for and work towards.