Plough Sunday-What happened at Crick.

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Plough Sunday is an ancient ceremony which had not been celebrated in Crick for as long as anyone can remember. The origins of the festival go back to the middle ages (or before) and on the Sunday after the Epiphany a plough would be brought into Church to be blessed before the first furrows of the new season would be cut and the crops sown in the ground. The following day, Plough Monday, the plough would be taken round the village and a collection made for the Church. Lack of sufficient generosity could result in the plough be used in a way a householder might not appreciate!

Farming practices have changed. Ploughs are now far too large to bring in to Church. The switch to winter sown wheat means that most ploughing has been done long before January. Never the less Plough Sunday is a festival that can usefully be celebrated today. There are two themes which are readily relevant;

• concern for farmers facing significant problems
• God's concern for the world of work

In Crick we wrote to all the Farmers in the Parish telling them that we would be praying for them that day. We invited allotment holders as those who also work on the land to attend. We arranged for a tractor to be outside the Church that morning.

We obtained the loan of an old plough which was small enough to bring inside.
We publicised the service round the village and invited children to bring a toy tractor which was put on the Communion Table,(or parked nearby) as was a spade from the allotments association.

Displays on Church focussed on the agricultural industry

The result of it all was that there were people of all ages who had an experience of worship which they would not otherwise have had