28 September – Jeannine Davies, St Mary Magdalen, Sheet

Wasps, Storms and Expectations

There’s a rather large wasp’s nest outside our bedroom window; it’s at the end of the gutter. I can’t actually see the nest but I know it’s there due to the business of the wasps’ peaceful coming and going throughout the day and the recent emergence of a small cloud of baby wasps which hover very close to their nest before returning safely ‘indoors’.

I say “peaceful”, it generally is but following the deluge of rain which fell on Monday morning, the nest seemed to be in ‘emergency mode’. The frenetic buzzing of so many wasps outside their home made me wonder if they’d been forced out due to flooding?

Sadly, wasp nests are in serious decline; indeed, this is the only nest that our window cleaner has seen all year in his entire round of window and gutter cleaning – he keeps a wide berth! Nevertheless, it would have been a shame to lose the only nest left standing (so to speak) on his round!

You may think I’m slightly crazy but I do liken this nest to our own assumption that our Church ‘home’ will always be there when, in fact, we know that numbers are dwindling. Some of us stroll in and out of church, attend the odd service, expect to always receive good sermons (and we do), expect to be warm in Winter with a sturdy roof above us and we perhaps don’t put into the coffers as much as we might, bearing in mind our expectations of security; especially during our heavy storms in life.

Just like those wasps, we need each others friendship, care and understanding and above all else, we need guidance; Thank God for our wonderful Vicars and Leaders in our Churches… Would it be a stretch too far to liken them as our Queen Bee?