Cucumber Flower

This rather ugly plant I found rowing in a greenhouse belonging to a gentleman of West Lancashire. Growing next to one of the yellow flowers is a cucumber, thus this vegetable must technically be a fruit. Cucumbers can be refreshing in salads, and they remain as green as the plant which bore them. Yet how bold a yellow are its flowers! How they stand out from the large, dark green leaves and the inevitable browns of the composts from which they grow.

We Christians are increasingly ‘sticking out’. Although other sections of society are rejecting the ideology currently being imposed upon us by government and big business, faithful churches are appearing increasingly at odds with the culture. Had the cucumber’s flower been green, it would have been a pity; when a church blends into the world, it is a shame.