My dear friends,
One of my earliest school memories is of attending a school harvest thanksgiving service, aged five. I immediately understood at that young age the point of thanking God for our food and remembering those people in the world who did not get enough to eat.
In one of my previous parishes, some of the parishioners once said: ‘We don’t work in agriculture, so we can’t bring the first fruits of our harvest to church. We do other forms of work, though. Could we not have a harvest thanksgiving service giving thanks for all the other things we do and make in our work?’
I thought this was a very imaginative idea, and we ended up filling the church with symbols of different sorts of many kinds of work and examples of the crafts and skills found amongst members of the congregation. As we did so, I was reminded of the offertory prayer that we once used to have at the Eucharist: ‘All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.’ This is found in 1 Chronicles, chapter 29, verse 14. It is an important reminder that everything we have, including life itself, is a gift from God. We Christians should respond by cultivating grateful hearts and freely offering the Lord, who has given us so much, ourselves, our hearts and souls, in His service.
Our Harvest Thanksgiving this year will be held on Sunday 5 October when we shall celebrate special Children’s Eucharists at St Laurence’s Church, Catsfield, at 9.15am and at St George’s Church, Crowhurst, at 11.00am.
With my love and prayers,
Father Robert.