Contact us
If you have any questions about this gathering, any suggestions or if you want print/electronic resources to
help promote Godspeed the Plough! in your church community, please drop us an email:
englewood.conferences ( AT ) gmail ( dot ) com
or by phone, you can contact Chris Smith at:
317 . 639 . 1541
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Some of you might be wondering where we came up with the title "Godspeed the Plough!" for this gathering. Well, we were
starting to think about titles and themes and we were combing through Wikimedia for images that might inspire us, when we
ran across the image shown there on the left,an illustration from an Anglo-Saxon manuscript. The banner reads "God Spede
ye Plough, and sende us Korne enow."; or, in contemporary English "Godspeed you plough and send us corn enough."
This slogan seemed to capture the essence of agriculture: utlimately our food is a gift of God, but we have a
responsibility to work the earth (e.g., with a plough) as co-laborers in bringing forth food. We also are reminded here
of the well-known Benedticine tradition of "Ora et Labora" (prayer and work). "Godspeed the Plough!" is a prayer for
God's mercy, even as we are laboring to plough and prepare the soil. In order to produce food, we need the mercy of God
in the provision of rain and sun, good seed and soil and the wisdom to discern the signs of creation that guide us(when
to plant, weed, harvest, etc.) But we also need good hard work, or else the earth will not receive the care it needs and
will not ideally cooperate in the production of food. And if we are not working the soil directly for our food, who is?
And at what cost to themselves and to creation? It is questions like these that lie at the root of a radical re-assessment
of agriculture that is needed in our churches today... It is our hope that by gathering and talking together in November, we can spur on some conversations of this sort!