Why do British people talk about the weather so much? This is a question that has puzzled countless folk through the ages! One theory is that it opens a conversation with a stranger – “Nice day today isn’t it!” or “When will this rain stop and the summer arrive?” I meet plenty of people in my day-to-day life, but try as I might, I simply cannot get through a day without passing a comment on the weather with someone I meet – especially at the moment, given the drab, dull and almost wintry conditions we have been experiencing in recent months. According to research undertaken a few years ago, at any one time a third of the nation is talking about the weather. How they can work that statistic out is beyond me! Interestingly, I was looking back at my letters for this publication to the Summer of 2022 and was reminded me that back then we were in the midst of a drought, and were praying hard for rain! I was saving all my washing up water and trying to work out ways of recycling water from my showers and washing machine – every drop was (and is, of course) really precious and something not to be taken for granted. Thinking back to May and earlier in this year it’s quite hard to recall the hot summer sunshine and drought of previous years.
Thinking of the weather, I mulled on its inclusion in the Bible and unsurprisingly, there are plenty of references to the weather there, which makes me realize it’s not a uniquely British topic at all. Weather affected people considerably then as now, they too had to contend with droughts, storms, hail and incessant rain – Noah comes to mind straight off! ‘The Lord makes the rain clouds, and He will give them showers of rain and crops in the field for everyone’, Says the Old Testament prophet Zechariah. And Job tells us: ‘He says to the snow, “Fall on the earth”, and to the rain shower, “Be a mighty downpour.’” The psalmist records these delightful words: ‘Who covers the sky with clouds, prepares rain for the earth and causes grass to grow on the hills.’
All these references to the weather and to our beautiful world focus on our creator God without whom there would be nothing in existence. One thing we can’t do is control the weather – although sadly, through our misuse and abuse, we have influenced it considerably, and not for the better. But despite that, ultimately there is one who can control the weather and life on this planet – and that is God himself. For, to quote the psalmist again: ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.’
Revd Lynda,
Barrow Rectory
Rev'd Lynda Sebbage
01284 811280
revlyndasebbage@gmail.com
RECTOR OF THE BARROW BENEFICE
Gt & Lt Saxham, Barrow, Risby & Denham
