01 Sep August 2025 Digest

Welcome back to another month here at Mucknell Abbey. We’re being kept very busy with the abundance of garden and orchard produce at the moment, which is coming in faster than we can eat and/or process it. Read on to see what else we’ve been up to!

Kitchen Garden Days

We set aside a few days earlier in the month for some focussed Kitchen Garden work time; this included sieving compost, emptying out our hot bin composters, digging the potatoes and tidying up the raspberry patch, as well as cleaning out the fruit store ready for a new harvest. There was also plenty of fruit and vegetables to pick and process, with Br. Stuart and Br. Anthony very busy with this. We look forward to enjoying the fruits of their labours!

Of course, the Kitchen Garden doesn’t just function 3 days a year! We’ve been harvesting, eating and processing all month, with pretty much everything in full swing – runner beans, french beans and courgettes in particular have been keeping us busy, as has picking tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse. The plum, apple and greengage trees are also producing well this year, as are our pear trees – there are some delicious little pears that don’t necessarily look ever so promising, but which are delicious.

Community Days

Following the Kitchen Garden days, we put aside three days the following week around the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary to enjoy some time together in a more relaxed way. A few of our plans fell victim to the very hot weather, but we managed to watch a film – The Name of the Rose – together, for those who wished, and also enjoyed some meals outside in the courtyard, and a few treats here and there too. Including ice cream!

CIR Conference

I was incredibly fortunate to be able to attend the CIR conference this month, which is a conference that happens every other year, for those in Religious Life from across Europe. It’s inter-denominational, with Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed communities all represented. There were about 30 participants all together, from about 20 different communities. This time we were based at Tymawr Convent, the home of the Society of the Sacred Cross just outside Monmouth, We stayed in one of the boarding houses at Monmouth School, having both breakfast and supper there, but were at the Convent most days to hear a variety of talks and papers be presented, and then to spend time in ‘Language Groups’ to discuss them, and much else besides. Our theme this time was taken from Romans 8: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God”.

The three main languages of the conference are English, French and German, with the encouragement to join, if possible, a langauge group other than your own native language. I opted for German, and spent several days resurrecting my rather rusty University skills. It was a delight to worship together with such a variety of fellow Religious, and to learn from one another and make new friends. It was also good to have fun together, including some Scottish dance one morning, and a pilgrimage day visiting Usk and Abergavenney, with two very thought provoking talks from Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury.

I’ve returned with a great deal to think about and think through, and am very much hoping to be able to attend the next conference in 2027.

New Adventures

As some readers may know, Br. Ian, who is an ordained Methodist minister, is taking up a part time post in Circuit ministry on 1st September. The plan is for him to spend about a day and a half a week here at the Abbey; the rest of the time he will be based in the Upper Thames Circuit near Swindon, with particular responsibility for the churches of Highworth and Shrivenham. It was a great delight for some of us to be able to join Ian for his welcome service in Highworth on Saturday 30th, to meet some of the community there and get a feel for where he will be based. We ask your prayers both for Ian and for the Community as we navigate this new venture, as well as for the Upper Thames Circuit and the people of Highworth and Shrivenham.

Rocky’s Ramblings

Rocky has been keeping himself to himself most of the month; his favoured spots seem to be Br. Stuart’s cell, and our undercroft, the latter particularly as a vaguely cool place during some of the very hot days we’ve had. He occasionally wanders into the Community Sitting Room of an evening, mostly to find someone willing to feed him. I found him relaxing in the undercroft recently, and managed to get a couple of photos. I don’t think he was entirely happy at being disturbed, but still, such is life.

And finally…

In her paper at CIR, Sr. Beate, from the Communität Christusbruderschaft Selbitz, reminded us that God is still active as creator:

“So if God keeps creating anew, He will not stop, not even today; this gives our life/lives great hope and strength on which we can draw.

Then God can also call new things into being today–in my life, in the life of our communities, in the church, in society, in the people we accompany and stand by in
the various programs, those for whom we pray and hope.”

This, it seems to me, is an important encouragement in a society where so much seems to be in flux and chaos: God is still creating, God is still calling new things into being. There are still new shoots to be looked for, nurtured and loved into being. I pray that we may all have the vision and the courage to see where God is creating anew, and the faith to nurture these green shoots.