Bulbs for loved ones

This year, the Upper Wylye Talley Team has invited people to plant a bulb in our churchyards.

As part of her sermon for our All Souls Day service, LLM Katherine Venning reflected on planting a spring bulb to remember loved ones, saying:

“We are looking to the future, for a bulb holds the promise of new life. The flower that grows from the darkness underground needs the lengthening daylight hours of springtime, and the sunshine and rain that will feed and nurture it. That bulb promises a miracle of new life, provided it is undisturbed, but it also depends on good ground and good weather. And it is beautiful, not because of us, but because God designed it to be beautiful.

"The natural world has been created by the God we worship, it has been created with its own harmony and rhythm. We do not need a microscope to admire its unseen beauty, but if we do have a microscope, we can be even more amazed by the intricacy and detail of each individual plant or bird or animal, or the stars and the sunset.

"Our Easter hymns express our faith and hope not just in the past, but in the future. Jesus died, and was buried, and hope seemed gone.

But from that place of darkness and despair,
Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for 3 days in the grave had lain.

"And that verse ends:

Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

"Love does not die and it cannot remain invisible for long. The bulb that we plant may be an expression of our love, but it does not replace it. Love is eternal. Our love is eternal. And God is love.”

The Revd Trudy Hobson says:

"Not only have many people from our communities planted spring bulbs, but this invitation has also sparked many conversations across our wider communities. We were told the story that the poet and soldier of the First World War, Siegfried Sassoon who was awarded the military Cross for bravery planted daffodils along a wooded drive near one of our villages to remember the lost ones of the First World War. And after so many years, the daffodils have spread over a wider area providing a wonderful display year after year.

"Planting a spring bulb in memory of a loved may not be a new idea, but it is always appreciated as we are able to return each year to take a moment to remember our loved ones and see the new life as our plant grows, comforted in the knowledge that our loved ones, and we all, have new through Christ."