A service of Remembrance, Thanksgiving and Hope, and the dedication on an oak tree in memory of all those who have died from Covid 19, was held at All Saints church in Wreningham, South Norfolk, on Sunday (March 20).
A congregation of Wreningham villagers and Upper Tas Valley Benefice church members gathered for the service, led by retired minister Rev Linda Ricketts, as all regular clergy in the benefice are currently isolating due to having Covid.
During the service, symbols of the last two years, including a face mask, bowl of salt water (to represent tears) and a jug of daffodils (to represent hope), were placed on the altar. The congregation were invited to tie yellow ribbons on a tree to remember the millions of people who have died during the pandemic.
Speaking words written by Rev Lydia Avery, Rev Linda Ricketts said: “As we look back, we see that each of our lives have changed to some degree. Perhaps we are more anxious than we used to be and many of us have found ourselves reappraising what’s important to us and how we want to live the rest of our wild and precious life.
“Though the invisible enemy is still at hand, we’re now striving to recover what we value not only as community and family members but also as individuals.
“There are now new and very demanding challenges ahead – the devastating consequences of a war in Europe and a rapidly changing climate.
“Today we claim the radical right to have hope and to carry this into the future. We do this in the yellow that we wear and in the tree that we are about to dedicate and in our day-to-day living. With the care of many generations, the Wreningham Oak tree may live for centuries – well past our current concerns and challenges.
“Today, as we reflect on the pandemic and what it has done to us all, we also give thanks that we are not alone in times of trauma devastation and that we and those we love and miss are promised a place of safety and new life in death.”
The congregation then went out into the church yard to see the dedication of the Wreningham Oak tree.
Pictured above is the Wreningham Oak dedication (by David Kirk) and, below, the tree of yellow ribbons.
Keith Morris, 22/03/2022
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