As we celebrate this month the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, we see that not for the first time the world is entering into a tradition which has its roots far back in Holy Scripture, in this instance way beyond Jesus Christ of the New Testament, right back to the Old Testament, when every seven years the land was to lie fallow - be rested. God promised that if the people kept to this pattern he would ensure rich harvests in the six working years so that there would be plenty left over and no one would starve during the seventh - fallow year.

This cycle was to continue until 50 years had been accomplished and then a "Jubilee" would be celebrated, it would begin with the blowing of a trumpet or ram's horn and this would be a fallow year as before for the fields but also an opportunity for property to revert to its original owners, for debts to be cancelled and anyone who had been enslaved for a debt to be freed. It was a time of great thanksgiving and an occasion for the exercise of faith that God would keep his promise and provide food for all.

All this history seems so far removed from the Bridge Opening, Hospital visiting and People Greeting which will be the focus of Her Majesty's Jubilee celebrations. Along with her admirable efforts to acknowledge other Faiths with, for example a visit to a Mosque, all showing what a different world we live in, not just since Old Testament times but since the Coronation in 1952, when those of us who can remember were still coming out of the shadow of war.

But there is one constant truth through all history, constant from the beginning of time, that is both a comfort and a challenge. This truth stated simply is that the same God who promised that there would be no famine in the seventh fallow year in one of the earlier books of the Bible, the Book of Leviticus, is the same God of the Harvest we will reap in this Jubilee year 2002, this same God, but even closer than the God of Moses, because through God's Son Jesus a deep loving connection now exists between our Creator God and each one of us. This loving connection, Jesus, is a comfort and also a challenge.

Jesus walked the land, the same land which is literally flowing with blood as I write these words, Jesus knew the cost of keeping faith and those who still follow him and through him follow God, know that at the heart of all our celebrating, there is the one God and Father of us all who, if we have faith will see us through, not just through our many local Jubilee activities remembering especially our Joint Church Fete, which is itself an act of faith, but through our struggles, bereavements and anxieties, but Jesus is more than a comfort he challenges us to look at the original Jubilee celebrations where debts of those who can never repay them are cancelled and freedom given to those who are imprisoned through poverty, and faith rewarded with plenty for all. The same challenges which face us today.

Thank you for reading what may appear an obscure history lesson, I hope that by knowing the depth of these traditions all our enjoyment will be enhanced and our faith in God and gratitude to Jesus his Son be celebrated not just in this Jubilee year of HM Queen Elizabeth II but for long afterwards.

Lorna Wood