Flowers in the Desert

On Easter Sunday 2017, with the retirement of the Vicar, the Benefice of Lanercost with Walton, Gilsland and Nether Denton entered a period of vacancy which lasted for over a year and a half. During this time, regular services were maintained, albeit with a little shaving of corners here and there. The author, a Reader in the Benefice, was one of a team of people leading services and preaching on a regular basis. The contents of this book provide a record of the vacancy in the form of sermons and reflections. The title is prompted by the phenomenon of ?the flowering desert,? which occurs every ten years or so in the north of Chile, when unusually copious rainfall at the end of winter causes the arid semi-desert terrain to bring forth flowers in profusion. Cover photograph by Paul Bamford