Harvest Festival
Service sheet (pdf)
Call to worship
God of the sowing and reaping,We bring before you the gifts of the harvest.
God of the sunshine and rain,
We bring before you the fruits of our labours.
God of the times and the seasons,
We bring before you another festival of rejoicing.
God of the growing up and the dying back
We bring before you our lives in all their fullness.
Harvest hymn:
HP 352/StF 130 We plough the fields and scatter (this will be sung for us by the Roberts family from Haworth Road)Prayers
We praise you, God who holds our world in your hands.You bring us breezes and sunshine and soft refreshing rain; and the seeds that we plant grow and fruit, and are harvested.
You bring us blessing and bounty, enough for all, and you ask us to share it out.
You bring us seasons in our lives, and the seeds you plant in us take root and come to fruition at the right time; and you seek your harvest from us.
You bring us times of growth and times of dying back, and in this time of dying back that we have named Covid-19, we offer ourselves and our lack of answers for your blessing.
Forgive us when we do not share what we have, whether food or money, or time or talents.
Forgive us when we judge others who do not produce the harvest we seek, forgetting that they are your children too.
Forgive us when we accept things as they are, and do not see the injustices you call us to change.
Forgive us when we live so unsustainably, and fail to realise how much difference our actions might make.
Lord, you hold the world in your hands, and you hold us in your hands.
You offer us forgiveness and a new start. Help us to use it wisely.
Amen.
Reading: Ruth 2:1-23
Reflection
I remember when I was young, our primary school would have a harvest service and we would all bring gifts of fruit and vegetables which would then be packaged up and taken out to older folk in the area. They were gifts that were appreciated, but I don’t remember them being essential foods that people would not have been able to afford to buy for themselves. Maybe it was because I was so young and didn’t see those things, but nowadays we collect not fresh items but tins and packets that tend to go to food banks, to be given to people who don’t have the money to buy the food they need.This is in line with what is happening in the story of Ruth. She and her mother-in-law Naomi were destitute: one an economic migrant and the other a failed migrant returning home. The laws in Israel at that time said that anyone who was harvesting anything – wheat, barley, olives, grapes – were to leave some of that harvest for the poor to come in and collect. Not just the poor of their own country, but those who were foreigners, too.
So what does it mean for those of us who do not own land? It means the things we do when we go shopping and put a little extra in the trolley and give that away to a food bank. It means spotting the special offers and using them not to save ourselves a few pennies, but to give away what would have saved us money, to those in need. It means not judging who comes as to why they cannot afford to buy food, but being open-handed, recognising that all good gifts come from God in the first place. It means not throwing away clothes we have grown tired of, but taking them to charity shops, along with the other things we have but never use.
This is what you have been doing. Thank you.
There are many different stories but here are just a few snippets from around the Circuit showing what happens to our harvest gifts:
Crag Road
Jenny helps run the Drop In, which happens on Fridays between 1.00 and 3.00, and offers a chance for people to come and socialise and chat in a warm, safe and friendly place. Before lockdown they had started a Luncheon Club where those who came would make a meal for all the others. They give out food parcels to any in need, and the Harvest gifts will re-stock the cupboard so they are ready to respond when the Drop In opens its doors again.Baildon
Gianfranco is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Windhill North-East Community Association, which has received gifts from Baildon. These contributions help families through difficult times; this year has been particularly challenging. Last year at Harvest, 600 cans of food were donated, and this year another collection is being made. This makes such a difference to the lives of those who receive these donations, and the tins go alongside the fresh produce that the Centre gives out to families.Bradford North foodbank
The Bradford North foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust, and Heather is team leader at the centre at Church on the Way. She and husband Stuart take in the gifts that have been donated and prepare food parcels that are nutritionally balanced to last a family for 3 days. Between April and August the foodbank fulfilled 960 vouchers, fed 3762 adults and 2910 children which added up to 7416 days of food. Before lockdown they would have visitors come to the Church on the Way and offer them refreshments, a listening ear, and sign post them for further help.Due to Covid they cannot do that and have to pass food parcels through the outside door to them.
St Andrews
Martin got together members of St Andrews and other helpers to offer a gift to their community by doing a litter pick. Each team had a bag for rubbish and another for recyclables, a tabard and a litter picker, and went out to clean the streets as an act of kindness to those who live and work there. They received a number of words of thanks, and look forward to this becoming a regular activity, part of their outreach to those around them.Song:
Praise him on the trumpet, the psaltery and harp John Kennett
© 1981 Thankyou Music CCL: 79951
Praise Him on the trumpet, the psaltery and harp;
Praise Him on the timbrel and the dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments too;
Praise Him on the loud cymbals,
Praise Him on the loud cymbals;
Let everything that has breath
Praise the Lord!
Hallelujah, praise the Lord;
Hallelujah, praise the Lord:
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Hallelujah, praise the Lord;
Hallelujah, praise the Lord:
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Greeting cards depicting harvest often show a heavily laden horse-drawn cart in a stack yard. And it was like that, once. I remember it. Then tractors replaced horses, and now they use combine harvesters and baling machines. But even so, that’s only one side of harvest: planet earth yields us far more than that.
Besides grain for our bread, there’s all the vegetables and fruit we eat, and animal produce too: milk, and eggs and wool, besides meat. Farmers are food producers, and we could not do without them. But along with our chips we have fish, and they are harvested too.
So besides praying for blessing on farmers and farming, we can ask God to care for those in peril on the sea. God bless our fishing fleet. But, above all, harvest is a time of thankfulness, of deep thankfulness to God for creating a system that can yield harvests for the food we need.
Wider still, there is also harvest from our forests, and that is vital for us too in all sorts of ways. Tearfund and Tree Aid are promoting tree planting in various parts of the world for food from fruit and nuts, and fodder from leaves, and medicine from bark – as well as shade from the sun, and protection from soil erosion.
And in this country more attention than ever before is being paid to the contribution of farming and forestry to such things as landscape, wildlife, health; carbon; climate; water; etc., and these are forms of harvest too, besides the produce of fruit orchards, and of course timber. Think of all the stuff around you made of wood: from paper to furniture to building materials, and all the rest.
Not only do farmers and fishermen and foresters produce the harvest we need from God’s creation, they are critically important in managing all these resources in sustainable ways that help our planet long-term.
So we can thank God and praise him for creation, and seek his help for looking after it, for he made us all custodians. We can ask him for wisdom and help to manage all resources responsibly for future generations as well as our own. And we can do so in the knowledge that it is to him that we are all ultimately answerable for how well or how badly we contribute our bit to the role of earth management, from what we buy to how we dispose of our waste.
Please, Lord, make us better at the job you created us for, through Jesus, who came to rescue the world. Amen.
Do we know that? Do we know that it’s not about creating a persona, but being authentically the one God made us to be?
That it’s not about what we gain for ourselves, but about realising that God has already given us everything?
That it’s not about making this life comfortable, but about seeking the fulness of life that God offers?
And sometimes those who turn away from chasing the so-called successes of this world live happier and more fulfilled lives because their focus is on God and on the life he offers us: life in all its fullness.
Look up above your plate, your possessions, your status, your reputation. What harvest does God seek from you and what does he have on offer for you?
Orange: It’s no picnic being in the sun all day, I can tell you. Look what it does to my skin! I’m all puckered up. And it’s hard to stay juicy when it doesn’t rain and the sun dries you up. There’s nothing worse than being taken into the kitchen, having your skin peeled off and then someone saying how dry and tasteless you are. It’s hard work being an orange too, you know. At least apples grow where there’s plenty of rain and their skins can stay soft and smooth.
Apple: Yes, my skin is soft and smooth, but look at me – I’m a Bramley! No-one wants to bite into me by mistake. I’m all sour, I can’t help it, it’s my disposition. I try to be cheerful but I just haven’t got it in me. The only way I can be eaten is if someone in the kitchen peels me and dices me and cooks me in a crumble. And I have to be so careful. Your skin protects you, Orange, but I bruise so easily.
Banana: Don’t talk to me about bruising! I only have to look at something and I bruise. And look at my skin – I’m still young really, barely ripe, but I’m covered in liver spots. It’s such hard work to keep my fruit sweet and fresh while I wait to be taken into the kitchen. At least you grow where it’s cool, Leek, and you stay in the earth till you are fully grown, which helps protect you until you’re ready to be picked.
Leek: They can’t pick me, they have to dig me up. I’m stuck here in the ground, only my top half is on the surface.
Potato: Well aren’t you lucky! None of me is visible above the ground, if it were, it would go green and they would have to throw me away. I grow all below ground, and have to hope they find me when they come along with their spades. Imagine all that growing, for nothing. And when I’m picked makes such a difference. If they pick me early and take me straight into the kitchen I’ll be a new potato and tossed in butter with a salad; or when I’m big and firm I’ll be chips. Or if they leave me till later I’ll only be good for baking. If they find me, that is. At least they can see you, Leek.
Leek: I suppose that’s true, but look at how big I am now, I’ll be all leathery and not good to eat at all.
Onion: Now look here, you lot, stop your squabbling. You can’t all be like each other because then there would be no variety. We need all the fruits and veg to be different from each other so they can be used for different things. Each of you has something to give when you’re taken into the kitchen. People aren’t going to use oranges for making chips: they want potatoes for chips and oranges for juice and sweetness. They want cooking apples for puddings and beans for savoury dishes. Because potatoes can take it, they put them in big sacks and empty them into bins in the supermarket. And because bananas are delicate they treat them carefully.
Leek: And what about leeks? Especially big leathery ones?
Onion: Well don’t look now, Leek, but here’s a Welshman coming to take you to a rugby match!
Leek: (being taken up into the air) Ooooooo! Cymru am byth! (Wales for ever)
Onion: We’ve all got our place in God’s good harvest. When we get into the kitchen we will know that all of us are part of the whole. There’s a part that only we can play, and if we will just try and be ourselves, instead of trying to be like the others, we can learn what that part is and play it well. So, sweet or savoury, be what God has made you to be and you will bring pleasure to someone’s palate, and serve God well.
Generous God
We want to praise you,
who lit the stars, hung the moon
and set this beautiful blue green planet spinning.
We remember that all Creation is yours
and we offer our joyful thanks
for the abundance and variety
of your gifts to us.
At Harvest Time,
we think particularly of material gifts,
thanking you for delicious food,
comfortable homes, valued possessions.
But infinitely more precious than all those,
we thank you for the gift of relationships:
for family, church family and friends
and most of all, for our relationship with you.
We thank you for Jesus’ self-sacrifice,
his freely offered gift of grace
so we might become your children,
adopted into your family.
We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit,
always with us to comfort and guide us,
growing her fruits of love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Silence
© 1981 Thankyou Music CCL: 79951
Praise Him on the trumpet, the psaltery and harp;
Praise Him on the timbrel and the dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments too;
Praise Him on the loud cymbals,
Praise Him on the loud cymbals;
Let everything that has breath
Praise the Lord!
Hallelujah, praise the Lord;
Hallelujah, praise the Lord:
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Hallelujah, praise the Lord;
Hallelujah, praise the Lord:
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Harvest
Greeting cards depicting harvest often show a heavily laden horse-drawn cart in a stack yard. And it was like that, once. I remember it. Then tractors replaced horses, and now they use combine harvesters and baling machines. But even so, that’s only one side of harvest: planet earth yields us far more than that.
Besides grain for our bread, there’s all the vegetables and fruit we eat, and animal produce too: milk, and eggs and wool, besides meat. Farmers are food producers, and we could not do without them. But along with our chips we have fish, and they are harvested too.
So besides praying for blessing on farmers and farming, we can ask God to care for those in peril on the sea. God bless our fishing fleet. But, above all, harvest is a time of thankfulness, of deep thankfulness to God for creating a system that can yield harvests for the food we need.
Wider still, there is also harvest from our forests, and that is vital for us too in all sorts of ways. Tearfund and Tree Aid are promoting tree planting in various parts of the world for food from fruit and nuts, and fodder from leaves, and medicine from bark – as well as shade from the sun, and protection from soil erosion.
And in this country more attention than ever before is being paid to the contribution of farming and forestry to such things as landscape, wildlife, health; carbon; climate; water; etc., and these are forms of harvest too, besides the produce of fruit orchards, and of course timber. Think of all the stuff around you made of wood: from paper to furniture to building materials, and all the rest.
Not only do farmers and fishermen and foresters produce the harvest we need from God’s creation, they are critically important in managing all these resources in sustainable ways that help our planet long-term.
So we can thank God and praise him for creation, and seek his help for looking after it, for he made us all custodians. We can ask him for wisdom and help to manage all resources responsibly for future generations as well as our own. And we can do so in the knowledge that it is to him that we are all ultimately answerable for how well or how badly we contribute our bit to the role of earth management, from what we buy to how we dispose of our waste.
Please, Lord, make us better at the job you created us for, through Jesus, who came to rescue the world. Amen.
Reading: John 6:30-35
Jesus is the bread of life – he is what ultimately satisfies. Whatever the adverts tell us, life is not about what we own, or what we eat, or what we drink, or who we do those things with. It’s not about Twitter followers or fame on Little Mix: The Search, or even the respect and admiration of other people who go to our church.Do we know that? Do we know that it’s not about creating a persona, but being authentically the one God made us to be?
That it’s not about what we gain for ourselves, but about realising that God has already given us everything?
That it’s not about making this life comfortable, but about seeking the fulness of life that God offers?
And sometimes those who turn away from chasing the so-called successes of this world live happier and more fulfilled lives because their focus is on God and on the life he offers us: life in all its fullness.
Look up above your plate, your possessions, your status, your reputation. What harvest does God seek from you and what does he have on offer for you?
Sketch: Harvest veg
Leek: You were all harvested long ago, but we leeks are always behind. We don’t get harvested with the rest of the vegetables, we get left in the cold ground and my top is green but my bottom half is white with the cold, and I’m going all leathery and oniony. When I get taken into the kitchen, they might not want to use me for anything. I wish I could be like you, Orange, growing in the warmth of the sun and being all sweet to the taste.Orange: It’s no picnic being in the sun all day, I can tell you. Look what it does to my skin! I’m all puckered up. And it’s hard to stay juicy when it doesn’t rain and the sun dries you up. There’s nothing worse than being taken into the kitchen, having your skin peeled off and then someone saying how dry and tasteless you are. It’s hard work being an orange too, you know. At least apples grow where there’s plenty of rain and their skins can stay soft and smooth.
Apple: Yes, my skin is soft and smooth, but look at me – I’m a Bramley! No-one wants to bite into me by mistake. I’m all sour, I can’t help it, it’s my disposition. I try to be cheerful but I just haven’t got it in me. The only way I can be eaten is if someone in the kitchen peels me and dices me and cooks me in a crumble. And I have to be so careful. Your skin protects you, Orange, but I bruise so easily.
Banana: Don’t talk to me about bruising! I only have to look at something and I bruise. And look at my skin – I’m still young really, barely ripe, but I’m covered in liver spots. It’s such hard work to keep my fruit sweet and fresh while I wait to be taken into the kitchen. At least you grow where it’s cool, Leek, and you stay in the earth till you are fully grown, which helps protect you until you’re ready to be picked.
Leek: They can’t pick me, they have to dig me up. I’m stuck here in the ground, only my top half is on the surface.
Potato: Well aren’t you lucky! None of me is visible above the ground, if it were, it would go green and they would have to throw me away. I grow all below ground, and have to hope they find me when they come along with their spades. Imagine all that growing, for nothing. And when I’m picked makes such a difference. If they pick me early and take me straight into the kitchen I’ll be a new potato and tossed in butter with a salad; or when I’m big and firm I’ll be chips. Or if they leave me till later I’ll only be good for baking. If they find me, that is. At least they can see you, Leek.
Leek: I suppose that’s true, but look at how big I am now, I’ll be all leathery and not good to eat at all.
Onion: Now look here, you lot, stop your squabbling. You can’t all be like each other because then there would be no variety. We need all the fruits and veg to be different from each other so they can be used for different things. Each of you has something to give when you’re taken into the kitchen. People aren’t going to use oranges for making chips: they want potatoes for chips and oranges for juice and sweetness. They want cooking apples for puddings and beans for savoury dishes. Because potatoes can take it, they put them in big sacks and empty them into bins in the supermarket. And because bananas are delicate they treat them carefully.
Leek: And what about leeks? Especially big leathery ones?
Onion: Well don’t look now, Leek, but here’s a Welshman coming to take you to a rugby match!
Leek: (being taken up into the air) Ooooooo! Cymru am byth! (Wales for ever)
Onion: We’ve all got our place in God’s good harvest. When we get into the kitchen we will know that all of us are part of the whole. There’s a part that only we can play, and if we will just try and be ourselves, instead of trying to be like the others, we can learn what that part is and play it well. So, sweet or savoury, be what God has made you to be and you will bring pleasure to someone’s palate, and serve God well.
Prayers of intercession
We want to praise you,
who lit the stars, hung the moon
and set this beautiful blue green planet spinning.
We remember that all Creation is yours
and we offer our joyful thanks
for the abundance and variety
of your gifts to us.
At Harvest Time,
we think particularly of material gifts,
thanking you for delicious food,
comfortable homes, valued possessions.
But infinitely more precious than all those,
we thank you for the gift of relationships:
for family, church family and friends
and most of all, for our relationship with you.
We thank you for Jesus’ self-sacrifice,
his freely offered gift of grace
so we might become your children,
adopted into your family.
We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit,
always with us to comfort and guide us,
growing her fruits of love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Silence
As we thank you for all these wonderful gifts,
we also want to say that we are sorry for not always using them as you intend,
through our selfishness, thoughtlessness or ignorance,
so whilst some have a surfeit, others go without.
We pray for all those who hunger for food and clean water
and for those whose health suffers because they overeat or drink to excess.
We pray for all those who hunger for a place to live
and for those isolated in their own homes by COVID19.
We pray for all those who hunger for peace and justice
and for those who misuse their power and influence.
We pray for all those who hunger for purpose in their lives
and for those who are overburdened by their responsibilities.
Silence
Finally, in a few moments of quiet, we bring to you, our Heavenly Father,
the people and situations that lie heavy on each of our hearts today.
Silence
Loving Lord,
Help us to use and share your gifts as we should,
rejoicing in building your kingdom of love,
in harvesting the fruits of your Spirit
and bringing glory to your name.
We ask these and all our prayers through Jesus’ name,
as we pray together the prayer he continues to teach his friends;
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
we also want to say that we are sorry for not always using them as you intend,
through our selfishness, thoughtlessness or ignorance,
so whilst some have a surfeit, others go without.
We pray for all those who hunger for food and clean water
and for those whose health suffers because they overeat or drink to excess.
We pray for all those who hunger for a place to live
and for those isolated in their own homes by COVID19.
We pray for all those who hunger for peace and justice
and for those who misuse their power and influence.
We pray for all those who hunger for purpose in their lives
and for those who are overburdened by their responsibilities.
Silence
Finally, in a few moments of quiet, we bring to you, our Heavenly Father,
the people and situations that lie heavy on each of our hearts today.
Silence
Loving Lord,
Help us to use and share your gifts as we should,
rejoicing in building your kingdom of love,
in harvesting the fruits of your Spirit
and bringing glory to your name.
We ask these and all our prayers through Jesus’ name,
as we pray together the prayer he continues to teach his friends;
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Hymn:
StF 123 HP 355 Come, ye thankful people come – this version sung by the National Methodist Choir of Great Britain:
Blessing
God of the harvest, you have blessed us with good gifts. Now send us out to be a blessing to others, that, whether giving or receiving, we might witness to your loving generosity.And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, evermore, Amen.
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