Harvest Service 2018
On 7th October we had our Harvest Service, and this was again, for the third year, a Local Arrangement. It was wonderful to have the Brownies attend and take part. Two little Brownies bravely stood up the front and did both the Bible Readings. Matt, Helen and Ben had us in hysterics with their sketch about Jean-Paul Blancmange, the Gastronomic French Chef with Bob the helper. Keg tested the congregations word-power with the help of the Brownies, Ben, Jonah and Layla who came out the front and had to hold each letter from the word H-A-R-V-E-S-T, re-arranging into the words that the congregation could make from the word Harvest. There were 161 words but fortunately the children didn’t have to keep re-arranging the letters of the whole lot. In fact we focused on EAT and STARVE.
Wilf gave a presentation on behalf of Christian Aid. An exciting project which is empowering women to use the best most valuable source that is in abundance in their countries – solar energy — solar power is changing lives, giving light in the dark, allowing students to study at night, generating electricity for refrigeration, and setting up shops selling commodities as a way to supplement income. We were so excited to hear that if we donate our money to a specific Christian Aid project, the EU will quadruple the amount donated. WOW! Well our church raised a total of £117.73 which was the amount raised from donations from the Harvest Supper and retiring collection at this service, imagine that – we actually raised approximately £500 after the EU give their part.
Colin, thank you for your history lesson on HAEVES – the original name of harvest. I was so surprised to hear that it is a relatively new festival. An early harvest festival used to be celebrated at the beginning of the harvest season on 1 August and was called Lammas, meaning ‘loaf Mass’. Colin brought a glass container with mustard seeds and then a large coconut so we could see different size seeds. He gave Julie, our Brownie leader, a pack of sunflower seeds and asked if the Brownies could plant them next April and then bring their sunflowers to the next Harvest Festival. Colin was delighted that we brought out our bread ‘sheaf’ and placed it on the Altar Table because he had asked for his very old favourite harvest song to be sung ‘Bringing in the Sheaves’, a very old hymn but a lovely one which we all enjoyed singing.
The church was decorated with vases and baskets of flowers. The Brownies made little flower arrangements for us which looked so beautiful. The generous donations given by all were packed away and will be given to the Food Bank.
Sandra was Steward on duty and welcomed us all and opened the meeting with a prayer. Heather did her usual fabulous job in both writing and reading the prayers of intercession. Sue closed the service with an encouraging blessing for us all
What a lovely service and a wonderful way of showing the Lord our gratitude for the abundance of his goodness to us. It was immense fun and thank you so much for all who took part in the planning and the service.
Keg