Diocese of Chichester

DURING Lent, parishioner Jenny Flake, who with her husband and children run Coombes Farm, Lancing, asked if I would bless their new lambs at the end of the lambing season. 

She said such a service took place years ago when the previous vicar was in post, and featured on Songs of Praise on television.

Last September, the parishes of Coombes and St James the Less Lancing were reorganised to form one new parish, Lancing with Coombes. Father Felix Smith was appointed vicar – he is also vicar of the newly created parish of South Lancing and Sompting - with me as associate vicar. 

As I have primary pastoral responsibility for Lancing with Coombes, I’d got to know the beautiful, ancient Coombes Church and the community. 

The parish is unique in that it is both suburban and rural. Within a 25-minute walk you can be at the edge of the busy A27 and also in the midst of the South Downs, surrounded by rolling green fields, sheep, horses and cattle – even red kites soaring overheard on occasion.
Having previously lived in rural Ontario, Canada, my family and I enjoy living in Lancing for just that reason.

I was also very glad to be asked by Jenny to bless the lambs as the busy and often stressful season was coming to an end. I lived on a much smaller farm in Ontario and my wife and I raised a much smaller flock of sheep, so can well understand the stresses of lambing time along with all the uncertainties of the season following. 

Over the past century, both the UK and Canada have seen a depopulation of the countryside and with that a fading awareness and understanding of the cycles of agriculture and animal husbandry. 

We’ve even reached the point where some well-meaning people suggest the keeping of livestock, which have grazed the South Downs for over 5,000 years, is somehow “not sustainable”. When we pause to think our forebears grazed livestock for 5,000 years in England, never mind the close to 12,000-year history of domesticated sheep, goats and cattle, it seems we might have something to learn about sustainability from our ancestors.

As Christians, we can also to look at the Book of Common Prayer which, amid all the upheavals of the phases of the Reformation, preserved and encouraged observance of Rogationtide in the week before Ascension Day and contains prayers and thanksgiving for fair weather, rain and for plenty.

There is no set liturgy for blessing of livestock in any Church of England liturgical resource, but we followed the ancient pattern of praying with Psalms (traditionally called the Psalms of David, who was himself a shepherd) and reading the Holy Scriptures before asking for God to hear our prayers and bless the lambs. 

We use traditional language for services at Coombes so for the service in the lambing barn we turned to the Book of Common Prayer to pray through Psalm 100 “we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture” and read Isaiah 40:10-11 “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm” and St John 10:14-18 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me”.

We prayed for God’s blessing upon the lambs, for farmers across our country, for seasonable weather and for all who work for the common good of our land. 

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wagon ride, where we could see the sheep and cattle on the beautiful South Downs. Many first-time visitors went into Coombes Church. Overall, we had about 35 people join us, along with staff and volunteers. On our return, we discovered another ewe had safely delivered a lamb.

We had a wonderful time and I felt blessed to have been asked to bless the lambs. It would be good to make this an annual occasion and I hope that across our diocese we can continue to re-engage with communities that are so key to our country’s health and sustainability, such as blessing of ploughs as Father Andrew Birks, vicar at St Mary’s Chidham, has done, or the blessing of fishing boats Fr Felix will be leading in South Lancing and Sompting in June. 

We are blessed to live in such a rich agricultural country. I look forward to seeing how the lambs grow and continue to pray for a good season ahead.

Fr Ian Edgar is currently curate at Lancing with Coombes