From The Editor

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USUALLY at this time of year the gathering of harvest is celebrated in churches.

This is the season for remembering the work of farmers and fishermen in particular.

But this essential part of our food chain has been hit by Covid-19. Those who focus on particular crops have been impacted with struggles to gather in crops – and in some places – to find a market for their crops.

We were surprised in mid-June to find ourselves offered free strawberries by an Arbroath-based company, offering a regular delivery of their produce over the summer. This was an innovative and interesting way of ensuring crops were not wasted and may or may not continue in future.

September is also the month of ‘creation time’ when congregations are encouraged to think about the environment. One advantage of Covid-19 has been the dramatic reduction in pollution and major improvement in air quality.

Wildlife has re-emerged. One of the delights around our home has been an increasing number of wild birds – some more familiar to quiet country fields, rather than on the edge of a busy city. My daughter and I were delighted – and not a little taken aback – to spot a young male sika deer trotting in broad daylight along what was previously a busy road before stopping to look at us and then heading into a small wood. Deer are sighted regularly in the fields around us, but not at such close quarters and the dramatic decline in traffic has emboldened them. 

Hope Street in central Glasgow was regarded as one of the most polluted and busy streets in the UK and in June recorded one of the biggest improvements in air quality.

The pandemic has forced us to think anew over our daily lives. Retaining some of those changes could be the greatest gift to our world as we move forward into a new but changed reality.

There will be many other pollution hotspots which have recorded similar improvements during the global pandemic.

As we turn our thoughts to creation – even during these difficult times – the improvement we experienced in air quality amid stilled roads, seas and skies, should surely offer a lesson for the future.

Perhaps the greatest gift we can offer during this month of harvest and creation, is careful consideration of how we travel and whether our journey is essential – and how we choose to make the journey. Do we need to drive or take a bus or taxi to shop? Could we walk or cycle instead or use a delivery service? The pandemic has forced us to think anew over our daily lives. Retaining some of those changes could be the greatest gift to our world as we move forward into a new but changed reality where a new future awaits us – filled with new possibilities for the land, sea and air gifted to us by God. ¤

Lynne McNeil Editor

This article appears in the September 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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