My dear friends,
When I was a boy, if I was fussy or picky about my food, I would often hear my mother or grandmother say: “You’d eat that if there was a war on”, or sometimes “I don’t know how you’d have got on in the war.” Older readers of this parish letter will doubtless recall being on the receiving end of similar strictures.
The Second World War 1939-1945 cast a long shadow over the lives of those who lived through it. For my parents and grandparents, the war was a sort-of yardstick against which all subsequent experiences, attitudes and values were measured.
My mother and grandmother had spent much of the war in a small village in Rutland whilst my grandfather served in the Royal Navy. Both my mother and grandmother were gifted cooks and enjoyed cookery, but as a consequence of their wartime experiences both detested food waste of any sort. Perhaps as a result of wartime food rationing and shortages, combined with being part of a farming community, they realised how wonderful is our food, and how fortunate we are to have it. Harvest thanksgiving was always a time of great meaning.
Ever since I was a boy, I have always enjoyed the Church of England’s harvest thanksgiving services. The harvest hymns contain very careful and beautifully written words set to rollicking great tunes.
We plough the fields, and scatter The good seed on the land, But it is fed and watered By God’s almighty hand; He sends the snow in winter, The warmth to swell the grain, The breezes and the sunshine, And soft refreshing rain:
All good gifts around us Are sent from heaven above, Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, For all his love.
The prayers and Bible readings appointed by the Church for use at harvest thanksgiving direct our attention to the true meaning of harvest: (1) the fatherly care of Almighty God for all his children, (2) God’s call to all of us who follow his Son Jesus Christ to help the hungry and suffering, and (3) to exercise a wise and thoughtful stewardship of the wonderful world that God has created.
Our Harvest thanksgiving this year will be held on Sunday 4th October. We shall have special Children’s Eucharists at St Laurence’s Church, Catsfield, at 9.15am and at St George’s Church, Crowhurst, at 11.00am. St Laurence’s Church will be open to visitors to view the beautiful floral decorations between 10am and 3.30pm, during which time refreshments will be available. All proceeds will go to the Pelham, a local Christian charity which seeks to help and support people in this part of East Sussex. At 3.30pm there will be a Songs of Praise service at St Laurence’s Church.
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Looking ahead, the Right Reverend Dr Martin Warner, Lord Bishop of Chichester, is to administer the sacrament of Confirmation on Tuesday 12th November at St Augustine’s Church, Bexhill-on-Sea. If anyone would like to explore the possibility of being Confirmed, please have a word with me as soon as possible. At Confirmation we repeat the promises made on our behalf at our Baptism by our parents and Godparents. The Bishop – a successor of Christ’s Apostles – places his hands on our head and prays that we may be filled with the Holy Spirit to help us follow Christ. Confirmation completes our Baptism.
We don’t have to be perfect to be Confirmed – after all, only God is perfect – nor do we have to be the most wonderful, saintly human beings ever. If we are honest we are each a mixture of the good and of the sometimes not-quite so good. The only thing that really matters is that deep down in our hearts we simply want to be Confirmed, want to receive the Lord in Holy Communion, want to share our lives with Jesus Christ. What happens to us after our Confirmation is up to God. I was Confirmed over 45 years ago. I have never once regretted it.
With my love, prayers and blessing,
Father Robert.