Harvest - Year C

The Readings

A picture based on Psalm 100

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise."

Psalm 100 is a psalm "for giving thanks". These are the words of the first verses:

1. O be joyful in the Lord, all the earth;

serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song

2. Know that the Lord is God;

it is he who has made us an we are his;

3. Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise.

Laura has captured the universal chorus of thanks to God with people from all over the world drawn together in omni-cultural (if there is such a word) praise, with God central to their wrld, and the angels pictured "winging it".

The third verse picks up a repeating biblical metaphor of people being like sheep in te sense that the Good Shepherd (God) finds us pasture. Like in Psalm 23 - The Lord's my shepherd ... he makes me lie down in green pastures ......

Other readings for this Sunday are:

Philippians 4:4-9 and John 6:25-35

In his letter to the Philippians Paul tells the people to "rejoice in the Lord always" and to let their gentleness "be evidet to all". He writes "do not be anxious about anything" and promises that peace of God "will guard yor hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

In the gospel reading, conversation turns to the miracle of God's providing manna from heaven for the Hebrews as they were caught between a rock and a hard place as they waited as a homeless and hungry people. Jesus enigmatically tells his disciples that he is the bread of God "who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world". He then declared "I am the bread of life. He who comes to m will never go hungry, and he who blieves in me will never be thirsty." and that brings us back to the shepherd findig pasture for his sheep so they never go hungry.

Click here for Harvest resources for previous years.

Harvest festivals are at St Andrew's and St peter's at 10.45 and 9.30 respectively on Sunday 30th September 2007.Septembr 30th is also BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY.

The Arthur Rank Centre gives up to date information about the harvest.

Psalm 100 by Laura James.

Beauty for brokenness

is a song we will be inging as part of the Harvest celebrations at St Andrew's. Click here for the words.

Special invitations were printed for Back to Church Sunday. In the background of the cards is a picture of a combine harvester at work in the harvest field. One person mistook the combine harvester for the picture of a church.

"What's a church doing in the middle of a field?" she asked.

It made me think: In what ways is the church a combine harvester?

We will be inviting donations at our Harvest Services, and they will be sent to to the ARC- Addington Fund.
As part of the Farming Help response to the problems affecting the farming community as a result of this year's severe weather, the ARC- Addington Fund is currently administering a hardship fund. The ARC-Addington Fund provides pastoral support and hardship payments to any farmers who have been adversely affected by the recent floods. E.g. Those who have had to bring in stock and are unable to cover feed costs; soft fruit producers who have lost income as all their crop has been destroyed and who are in need of interim support; etc. The Fund prides itself in being able to respond to changing needs. More support is needed to cope with the scale of the problem.