We first visited our manse at the beginning of 2013, the house had stood empty for quite some time and the garden was a bit of a wilderness, the house itself was a bit of a throwback to the 1960’s but one of the big selling points for us was the view across the fields opposite. I remember commenting about the fields opposite and somebody said “there are plans afoot to build houses on that land” so we assumed that before very long, we would lose our view. Having lived here for almost eight years now those fields over the road have given us great joy, we can sit in our lounge and see some of the most amazing sun rises, the fields are like a magnet for dog walkers and we have a stream of people walk past our house with a vast array of pooches. The locals told us from the outset that there had been plans afoot to build houses on that lad as far as some could remember and the general opinion seemed to be “I’ll believe it when I see it”.
A gang of workmen turned up on Thursday and worked putting up flag poles right opposite our house and at other points down the road, some flags and some signs were erected yesterday, and they announce the arrival of the “exciting new development” which promises to be imminent now. The arrival of the flags and signposts started me thinking. I guess that it will take time for the development of the site to begin and it promises no end of upheaval for our neighbourhood, I can already imagine the increase in traffic on the road outside, the inconvenience of roadworks and traffic control systems, of mud on the road, of noise pollution and above all else, we will look out on houses, rather than the fields that have brought us joy. No longer will we see the farmer turning the soil, sowing the seed, the crops growing and harvest time, and I guess the sun rises and the dog walkers will not be quite as memorable for us.
But then I consider all the changes that have happened in the last year and maybe any year I care to mention, I reflect on how life has changed since the days of my childhood. I long for some of the things we have lost, and I treasure some of the advances we have made, I confess to actually quite enjoying coming into my study on a Sunday morning and leading Church worship from my desk, I am thankful for the advances in technology that have allowed this to be possible and it is wonderful when we have finished an evening meeting, that I am already at home. At the same time, I miss people, I miss driving out into the county, I miss sitting and chatting with people over a meal or a cuppa.
Maybe we do well to remember that redevelopment will normally carry a cost and can be for the better, I find myself chairing meetings at the moment where we are looking at what the Church will look like at the end of all of this. I hear debates on the television about what society will look like. We are possibly all accustomed to change and over the years have learned to adapt, this is another time when we need to do be prepared for change.