A little honey too!

Bee and flower kiss and make nectar. Photo : Lynn Hurry

World Bee Day

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way that a Bumble Bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. It’s something to do with its body mass in relation to its wing span. It’s all been tested out, using the science of aerodynamics and a wind tunnel.
The Bumble Bee is, however, blissfully ignorant of this scientific fact and, possessing considerable determination, and refusing to accept a low expectation of its capabilities, it not only does fly, but it makes a little honey too.

[Perhaps we can bear that in mind when we are faced with difficulties about things we can or can’t do. Even more important when others tell us what we can’t do. Think of the bee and don’t let others put you down.]

Despite possessing determination, the bee population needs our help at present.

This week, the United Nations led us in the observance of a World Bee Day. It is generally held on May 20^th. The date was chosen to honour Anton Jans̆a, a pioneer of modern beekeeping who was born on May 20^th, 1734.The main purpose of the Day is to raise awareness about the essential role that bees and other pollinators play in “in maintaining healthy ecosystems and ensuring food security.” (UN).
By encouraging the observance of this day, it is hoped that actions might be promoted to protect and enhance bees and other pollinators and their habitats which are threatened increasingly by human activities such as habitat loss, increasing and indiscriminate use of pesticides and the effects of climate change.
Pollinators, which include bees and also endangered butterflies, are responsible for a staggering reproduction of over 75% of the world’s food crops BUT 40% of them are currently at risk of extinction.

The United Kingdom Government has issued suggestions how gardeners and other’s involved in the growth of plants, might help to nurture nature and help our pollinators to thrive:

Grow more nectar rich flowers, shrubs, and trees. Using window or balcony boxes are good options if you don’t have a garden;
Let patches of garden and land grow wild;
Cut grass less often;
Do not disturb insect nests and hibernation spots; and
Think carefully about whether to use pesticides.
In addition you could build a bee hotel and make a bee watering station. Bees and butterflies, wasps and other pollinators need water and bowls placed around your garden or window box can be a real lifeline.

Don’t forget to commit this action to prayer:
In Ecclesiasticus Chapter 11, verse 3, we can read:
The bee is small among flying creatures,
but what it produces is the best of sweet things.

Here’s a prayer inspired by this:

O God, Creator of the earth,
We pray for tiny, buzzing bees
who work so hard and true to pollinate
and bring life anew.
May we protect them from harm and wrong
and cherish the gifts they bring along.
All creation speaks of Your divine glory.
May we honour and protect it, in Your divine name.
Amen.

Abundantly

*Glow sticks and Sticklebacks, Night Swimming. Art by my friend Kay Gibbons.*

Abundantly.
(a pondering on the Gospel of John Chapter 21: 4- 14)

There were 153 of them!
Fish, I mean.

They cast their net in obedience to the familiar stranger.
It was a futile gesture towards one whom they vaguely knew
from a past now best forgotten.

Wearily, bleary-eyed, minds dulled with a sadness
they could not describe,
they cast their nets.

Sudden movement beneath the waters
the sea swirling and churning with an activity
they had not expected.
Nets, recently mended after a disuse of three years,
strained, grew taut, threatening to burst.

Hard to haul it on board
even when arms and minds and hearts
instinctively took over.
Professional pride in a trade once learned
could not be forgotten.

Meanwhile, on the beach
the smoke of a fire curled lazily upwards.
He bent over the fish, gently cooking,
bread crustily browning.
How could they not now recognize him?

He called them children.
They belonged to him, now more than ever.

The fish were counted,
their number recorded.
153.

It would occupy the minds, debates, writings
and arguing of theologians down the ages.

Literalists would ponder on so odd a number.
Biblical scholars would wonder on the significance
and write the odd thesis about symbolism
without knowing whatever it meant.

From the beach, he simply said, “Come and have breakfast.”
so ordinary, just as often before.
but somehow very different.
They knew now that they were in God’s presence
God was feeding them
and loving them.

As he would time and time again
in a future where they would touch others with His love.
Abundant love,
abundantly given and received.

153 ?

The number representing God’s abundance,
God’s outpouring of a grace and kindly love for all?

Why not?

[Mr G Eastertide 2025]

{ you can find more of my friend Kay’s art if you go onto Instagram.
kaygibbons_art.glass.sculpture}

[][][] The number 153 refers to the number of fish miraculously caught by the disciples in John 21: verse 11.

Celebrating difference through Trust

Ruth Klauber, photo by her daughter, Sue

Celebrating Difference through Trust.

The 80^th commemoration of VE (Victory in Europe) Day on May 8^th and events surrounding it was bound to be a time of emotion for many and of quiet reflection. At a time when there are increasing conflicts around the world it is hard not to feel a sense of futility. Can we talk meaningfully about the Victory of Peace over War when humanity is seemingly locked in battles and struggles with each other. The futility is even greater when we note that a few leaders of nations are mainly responsible for what is happening. Just about a dozen men are holding the world to ransom. The real tragedy is that 8.2 billion of us are letting them. A proportion are even physically involved in fighting at the whim of those leaders. Not surprisingly there is increasing talk of a Third World War, this time with the probability of using nuclear weaponry and all the horror that brings with it.

Conflicts are being witnessed in other places where there is a battle of a differing kind. The fear of difference; racial, sexual, gender issues, poverty, malnutrition, injustice are all part of a mix in which might swamps right and bullies impose their views. Sadly, some of that fear can be laid at the feet of religion and an insistence that ‘truth’ can only exist if it is ‘my’ truth. In his book, The Dignity of Difference, the Late Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks said that “Truth on earth is not, nor can it aspire to be, the whole truth. It is limited, not comprehensive; particular, not universal. When propositions conflict it is not necessarily because one is true, the other false. He suggests that the difference is because we are coming at something from a different angle but both are only part of the truth because, he says, only in heaven there is truth; on earth there are truths.“
Something I try to remember when I think I am right!

This week of remembrance has therefore a deeper meaning than gratitude and thanksgiving. It is also a time of going forward with new resolve and with a seeking of a new attitude and deeper sense of care for each other. This means that we must seek the well-being of others, with compassion, a sense of justice and kindness. Celebrating, not fearing, difference.

This came home to me when a lady called Ruth Klauber was interviewed on the BBC programme on Bank Holiday Monday.

Ruth is 101 years old and in 1933 her father brought his family to England from a Germany which was just becoming ruled by the Nazi party. He had read Hitler’s book ‘Mein Kampf’ and realized what was happening, not least to Jewish families such as his.

His daughter Ruth settled in England and when War broke out, she decided to join up to share in the fight against Hitler and his dictatorship which was already destroying those in German society who were different and considered ‘impure’. Amongst them of course were Jewish people but also gay people and Romanies.

Ruth joined the Royal Air Force where it was suggested that she might be a cook, or a batwoman, someone who looks after officers’ uniforms! She said ‘no’ to these suggestions so they said, “well, you can be a flight mechanic”. Which she thought might be interesting so that is what she did.

In 1942, she joined an RAF crew fixing the bombers that helped the Allies to turn the tide of the war. These included Lancaster Bombers and she, with a handful of women worked alongside male mechanics. She spoke of working with people from different backgrounds but everyone got on with each other. They grew to trust each other’. This became a key to how we might live and work together on common tasks.

Ruth said,“We all got on together and I just wish we could learn to trust each other. People couldn’t waste time emphasizing differences. We had to learn to work together and just get things done.”

Ruth then had something to say to us today:

“I do think that difference is what people fear and that’s something we have to think about, how we can make it possible (to get on with each other) when there isn’t a common enemy – we need to trust each other more.”

She has lived a long time and has a deep insight and wisdom of the human condition. She is a voice with that common-sense authority which is born out of a life which has been forged in times of persecution, and making the most of things. When she tells us that we must learn to get along with each other and TRUST one another, she speaks to us from the heart. We should listen to her.

A Ponder Quote :

“Even with the most deeply held differences, treating the other person with respect and as a fellow human being, is always a good first step towards a greater understanding.”

-Queen Elizabeth II – Christmas message 2018

Amen to that.

[Mr G]

{}{}{} for more information about Ruth Klauber, there are many articles about including from the Jewish Chronicle.

Keep me as the apple of your eye

Morning near Tarn Hows, Lake District. Photo by Gill Henwood

An early morning reflection from the Lake District
by my friend, Gill Henwood.

Out early morning, the dogs have swum in Tarn Hows
and we’re returning through the woods above Coniston.
The birds are singing all around us,
in the unfurling tender canopy of leaves and tree blossom.
No wind: the day is rapidly heating in the nearly-summer sun.

A cuckoo sounds across the fells. We heard two yesterday in Little Langdale
… heralds of summer (and danger, if you are a future foster parent bird sitting on eggs).
The shade of the delicate canopy brought to mind:

“Keep me as the apple of your eye
Hide me under the shadow of your wings.”

Psalm 17.8

The peace and calm of protecting shade, the ‘wings’ of myriad mature trees above.

But other wings break into the birdsong (though they ignore them).
Fighter jets are training, flying circuits below the fell tops, preparing for defence,
reminding us that peace and calm have a terrible cost.
Thinking of Ukraine, the Middle East, people in conflict wherever.
May they one day hear the birds sing, the cuckoo call, and find shelter under shading trees.

Till then, may our prayer be with the psalmist,(above)
prayed at Night Prayer, Compline, the traditional offices, prayed at Night Prayer, Compline, the traditional offices.

Gill Henwood.
May 2025