Blessing the Plough
in the Avon Valley
Despite early concerns as to availability and price of fuel and fertiliser, local farmers in the Avon Valley took advantage of earlier rains to commence planting crops of canola, oats, barley, wheat, and lupins. Alongside this activity there have been opportunities provided to local farmers and residents to acknowledge their dependence upon the Divine in the greater order of food production and so pray for a good season.
The local priest, The Revd Canon Philip Raymont, conducted five Blessing of the Plough services during May, including those at the Baptistcare Balladong Gardens Aged Care Home in York, and the Baptistcare Kalkarni Gardens Aged Care Home in Brookton.
Meanwhile at the 10.00am service on Sunday, 10 May at the Church of St John in the Wilderness, The Dale, in the Parish of Beverley-Brookton, a one-furrow handheld mouldboard plough drawn by a 65 horsepower Massey Ferguson Tractor, provided the opportunity for the plough, and the oats, wheat and barley seed to be blessed, and the seed to be planted and watered.
After the service, a typical rural “bring and share” lunch was enjoyed. At Faith’s Church, Quairading, a small garden one furrow plough was blessed at the 5.30pm service on Saturday, 16 May. On Sunday, 17 May an eight-furrow mouldboard plough and seed were blessed by Bishop Kate Wilmot at St Andrew’s Church, Greenhills, in the Parish of York. Bishop Kate was visiting the parish to baptise one adult, confirm that adult alongside two others, and to receive into the Anglican Church of Australia another person. After these liturgical celebrations many of the congregation adjourned to the nearby White Gum Farm for lunch.
While it is unlikely that any ploughs were in action this planting season, maintaining such a tradition as the Service of The Blessing of the Plough reminds us of our need to give thanks to God for the goodness of creation and to pray for our proper care of natural resources.
Writing in The Anglican Focus, the Diocesan Newsletter of the Diocese of Brisbane, in August, 2022, after having conducted the Blessing of the Plough ceremony at the Brisbane Exhibition (“The Ekka”), the equivalent of the Perth Royal Show, Archbishop Phillip Aspinall noted “It is spiritually important to remind ourselves about where our daily food comes from and about the work of the people who help produce it.
With an abundance of produce and other foodstuffs in our supermarkets, as well as fast food, take-aways and home deliveries, we can easily forget the gift of fertile soil, the sowing of seed, the raising of livestock, the seasons and the necessity of rain, the harvest, and the transfer of produce to market, all so that we can eat and drink.”
As the Archbishop concluded his reflection, we do well to pause to give thanks to God for the wonder of creation and for daily food, homes, families, and friends: “The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature. For this food and for every gift which comes from you, O God, we bless your holy name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Might that, and the following, prayer, which was offered at all the services in the Avon Valley, be one for all, be they farmers, gardeners or not:
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation:
for in your abundant care you have given us fertile land,
rich soil, the seasons in their courses.
You provide seed for sowing, water, light and warmth
to bring forth the miracle of growth.
You give us skill to work the land,
to prepare and nourish it, that it may be fruitful.
By your blessing, let this plough be a sign of all that you promise to us.
Prosper the work of our hands, and provide abundant crops for your people to share.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
God speed the plough.
God speed the plough.