Derbyshire: Buckfast bees find home with Presentation Sisters

In this Season of Creation, we are encouraged to do or take something on that will help our planet….

In our efforts to care more for our earth, we decided to invest in a bee hive. Our next-door neighbours, Julia and Eric, were a great help - they had a hive of bees AND a spare hive. Her son, Daniel and his wife are bee keepers and so our adventure started.

In late June, the hive was placed in an alcove in the church cemetery beside our house. Daniel took himself off to collect a swarm of bees from Buckfast. He had suggested these bees because they are gentle and had been bred as far back as 1919 (at Buckfast) so that they are more acclimatised to England. We were also conscious of the school children being next door and their playing field being on the other side of the hedge.

The bees arrived and were put in the hive but unfortunately some had died on the way and the others were struggling.

Daniel, the beekeeper, got back onto Buckfast - they needed to know in case there was a problem being bred in the bees. Another swarm was brought up and housed in the hive. These are thriving.

We have planted bee-friendly bushes and flowers in our garden and in the graveyard.

It is amazing to see them working in our garden and queueing to get into the hive to take back their nectar.

As a side line - they are doing a great job pollinating our flowers and bushes.

We are now collecting our empty jam-jars ready for the honey………

From cathedrals to candles, from vestments to the Easter Vigil Exsultet, the church honours, depicts, and implements honeybees into its representation of life offered for others. Common words, like the "cell" in a monastery, derive from the cells of a hive. It's a group of celibate worker bees, supporting one another for the survival of the whole. The high altar in St Peter's Basilica is covered in bees. St John Chrysostom once shared in a homily:

"The bee is more honoured than other animals,

not because it labours,

but because it labours for others."

Martin Marklin took up beekeeping as a sideline to his main business producing thousands of handcarved liturgical candles each year at the Marklin Candle workshop in Contoocook, New Hampshire. Beekeeping became its own vocation, however, and the more Marklin learned about the life of bees, the more he saw the ways in which the beehive reflects the early church.

Martin has a five minute video called Be The Bee in which he parallels the bees and us as Church.

https://youtu.be/ZxDesicz62g

In the light of seeing the video, reflect on the following questions -

Martin Marklin says he became interested in beekeeping when he realized he "had no idea how the bees did what they did." What aspects of your work are you curious about? How might exploring those areas open up your imagination? Is there any anxiety you need to overcome to do this?

Marklin says the bee community "is reflective of how the early church was." Do you see powerful metaphors for the church around you?

In what ways do you "labour for others"? Is that a useful mindset in your organization?

As a candle maker, Marklin derives joy from knowing that the work of his hands becomes "the light of Christ in the world." Do you see your work in that way? Could you?

Markin urges everyone to "be the bee" -- to find beauty and transform it into something even more beautiful. Are there places in your life and work where you can do that?

Finally, we invited the parishioners and schoolchildren to get involved, by donating some crocus bulbs helping to create a carpet of crocuses in the cemetery at St Joseph's - and provide food for our bees. We hope to get the children in St Joseph's school to plant the bulbs.

(This was first published in Faith & Leadership: www.faithandleadership.com