IT WILL be a huge picnic, whether on the seashore, in a parish
hall, in a school, or round the table in a private house; but the
aim will be the same. Planned for Pentecost Week, the build-up to
the initiative Loaves and Fishes has begun in the parishes and
communities around Morecambe Bay. Ninety churches or faith
communities and 60 schools are being encouraged to host a meal,
open to people of all faiths or none, sharing fish, seafood, and
bread. The hope is that the bread will be home- or hand-made for
the occasion from leaven that has been passed from hand to
hand.
The bread-making chain started last month at the Cathedrals of
Blackburn and Carlisle, where the Deans, the Very Revd Christopher
Armstrong, of Blackburn (above), and the
Very Revd Mark Boyling, of Carlisle, blessed yeast and sour-dough
leaven at the eucharists.
The leaven was taken home by participants to be used for
bread-making, and then for some of the dough to be passed on as
leaven to the next village or town, and so on, all round the Bay.
The aim is to encourage as many people as possible to enjoy making
and sharing good-quality bread in time for the event. They have
also set up their own website to pass on their bread-making recipes
for others to use.
Local initiatives are already rising with the dough, my
correspondent says. At Lancaster Priory, Christian and Muslim women
are learning bread-making together. And the project will provide
the opportunity to go fishing. Local fishmongers, bakers, and
restaurants will be encouraged to promote their wares.
Bishops and other church leaders will bless the freshly caught
fish and newly baked bread in a grand picnic on 9 June on Arnside
Promenade, in Cumbria.