logo

Header graphic for coastal parishes. Shows images of the three church buildings, the coastal parishes logo, and text 'Coastal Parishes North Devon' and 'The church of England in Woolacombe, Mortehoe and Lee', with a background image of Woolacombe Bay. Overlayed image of St Sabinus - Woolacombe Overlayed image of St. Mary's - Mortehoe Overlayed image of St. Matthew's - Lee

Scarecrow Time

It's Panto Time! The scene is a theatrical stage with scenery for a pantomime. In the centre is a scarecrow, surrounded by a field of wheat.Let us not grow weary...

This August, the annual Mortehoe Scarecrow Festival will be in full swing.  It runs from 31st July until 3rd August, from 10.30 – 16.30 pm.  Over the weekend, you are invited to call in at the Museum to collect a score card and then explore the village to search for the characters listed.  This year the theme is ‘Pantomime Characters.’  If I know anything about it, it will be imaginative, funny and something utterly worth turning out for.  When you have finished trying to find all the characters, you are invited to give your score card in for the chance of winning a prize in several categories.  There will be a barbecue and craft fair to enjoy too.

There is something wonderfully ordinary about a scarecrow. Dressed in cast-off clothes, propped up with a pole, and left to face the changing weather, it stands in a field with a task so simple that it is almost easy to miss.  It is there to guard what has been planted; it cannot make the seed grow. It cannot command the sun to shine or the rain to fall. Yet it remains in place, quietly witnessing to the hope of harvest.

A scarecrow’s work is not glamorous. It receives no applause, no wages, and no public recognition. Its usefulness lies in simply staying where it has been placed. In this, it offers a quiet picture of Christian faithfulness. Much of discipleship is lived not on a platform but in the field: in daily kindness, hidden prayer, patient service, repeated forgiveness, and the steady choosing of what is good.

The Apostle Paul writes, “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). The scarecrow reminds us that faithfulness often looks like remaining hopeful when results are slow, remaining prayerful when answers are delayed, and remaining loving when love is costly.

Perhaps the scarecrow is most moving because it is so vulnerable. It is battered by wind, soaked by rain, faded by sun, and still it stands. For Christians, perseverance is not stubborn self-reliance; it is a trusting dependence. We stand because Christ has first stood for us. We guard what is precious because God has entrusted it to our care. We wait for the harvest because resurrection teaches us that even buried things can rise.

So, if you want some fun, please join us for what promises to be a really good family event.

Revd Susan