
A packet
of Forget-me-not seeds were given to mourners who came to my grandson, Dylan’s
funeral service in January 2014. Seeing Forget-me-knots in Canadian gardens and
on Manatoulin Island reminded Ki and me of Dylan.
These
wildflowers grow unashamedly in a brief season that soon passes, a fleeting
time of the year, the yellow eye florets ephemeral in their beauty, they are
tenacious and resilient in their blue glory. The flower, however, speaks to me
not of remembrance but the possibility of newness. Beds of Forget-me-nots
provide me with a flamboyant celebration of life, they speak of generosity and
humility in the extreme and a complete and free acceptance of death. Their
seeds are found in small,
tulip-shaped pods along the stem to the flower and in sacrificial giving the
shriveled seeds are flung into the wind, with utter trust and abandon.
It
was during my time in Niagara of the Lake, Ontario that I heard the good news
from Jesmond URC, Newcastle. News had been received that following positive
recommendations from the Synod’s Listed Buildings Advisory Committee (LBAC) and
English Heritage, synod’s Mission Executive Committee finally approved an
amended listed building application and gave an encouraging “yes” to the
overall proposed scheme.

The
determination of the Jesmond URC to continue their ministry and mission is to
welcomed and applauded. The elders and church meeting have the strength of mind
and resolve that the church with its history and musical tradition will not be
forgotten. Of course it may be regarded by some that it is reckless in our
modern culture of investment and forward planning to pour all its resources into
the present moment. We have to admit that part of the general church’s core is
dying and perhaps is already dead. And after all the musing and praying and
meditating is done the cost to make new may after all be too great.
Given
the size of the church and the costs of redevelopment it is nothing than a
courageous act of bravery for the church in Jesmond to look to the future and continue
its hospitable worshipping ministry in new and exciting ways. The community in Jesmond have not for
forgotten their reformed memory nor identity nor from whence they came. And like
the forget-me-not out of the death of the old flower will rise a new and more
glorious blossom, a sign of a future new life to come in a new season, and the
promise of a renewed glory.
But
I know that out there in the Canadian fields and gardens the forget-me-not has
become a sign, drawing me into family memory but also into new depths of
freedom in prayer and daring me to follow their lead in embracing the
life-releasing glory of anonymity and impermanence. May what I take with the
frustrations and restlessness of the church prove to be seeds of new life to be
cast on the Spirit, freely and with utter trust.
Ray Anglesea
Sabbatical Blog
3:Forget-me-not: Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.
May 2014