WELCOME TO ST MARY'S AND ALL SOULS
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St Mary's and All Souls Services We will post any revisions to services here and on our Facebook and Twitter feeds: https://www.facebook.com/StMarysAndAllSouls |
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St Mary's and All Souls latest Newsletter |
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PCC Papers You can now download minutes and other PCC documents from the PCC page |
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Food Bank latest needs: https://bromleyborough.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-food/ *PLEASE DON'T SEND US FROZEN OR CHILLED ITEMS AS WE DON'T HAVE THE CORRECT STORAGE FOR IT AND IT SPOILS BEFORE WE CAN DISTRIBUTE IT* WE'VE GOT PLENTY OF PASTA, CEREAL & BISCUITS
Thank you!
Judith Simmonds will be taking the Parish contributions towards the end of the month so please drop your donations into our box in the porch before then. |
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In need of help? Call |
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Take a look at the churches in the Benefice from the air Reverend Susan writes:
We are currently in what was predicted to be an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season. That may seem a strange statement for me to make while sitting here quite safely in the UK but we do not have to look far to see news of the destruction being caused by hurricanes overseas in places we may well be familiar with. For instance, in July Hurricane Beryl hit the southern Windward Islands at Category 4 strength. It made a direct hit on Grenada and had major impacts on St Vincent and Grenadines - small islands with little experience in coping with a category 4 hurricane. More recently Hurricane Ernesto has caused homes to float away on the east coast of the USA and we here in the UK tend to experience the heavy rains and winds from the tail ends of the storms.
All of this is on top of other devastating natural disasters such as flooding, extreme heat and wildfires around the world (in the USA, China, Chile and Mexico to name just a few).
We hear on our news of lives lost, homes swept away, livelihoods destroyed, power lines downed, people left with literally nothing. Anywhere such devastation hits crops are destroyed, and water contaminated making recovery more difficult and more dangerous.
Here in Britain we are comparatively fortunate for although some are certainly affected by storms and flooding our crops are rarely destroyed and our infrastructure remains intact.
What then is our focus when it comes to celebrating our Harvest Festivals?
Traditionally churches mark the event in late September or October. I wonder, what does harvest mean to us?
Although the early harvest customs date back many years in this country, it is said that the modern tradition of celebrating Harvest Festival in churches began in 1843, when the Reverend Robert Hawker invited parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at his church at Morwenstow in Cornwall. He was aware of the importance of the harvest to his rural congregation; if the harvest failed his parishioners would go hungry, if successful they would have plenty of food for the months ahead.
Victorian hymns such as “We Plough the Fields and Scatter”, “Come ye Thankful People Come” and “All Things Bright and Beautiful” helped to popularise Hawker's idea of harvest festival and spread the annual custom of decorating churches with produce for the Festival Service.
As British people have come to rely less on homegrown produce, there has been a shift in emphasis in many Harvest Festival celebrations. Increasingly, churches have linked Harvest with an awareness of and concern for less well-off people in the community along with those in dire need overseas.
Harvest Thanksgiving should be just that for us, an opportunity to give thanks to God.
The ancient Israelites harvest didn’t just celebrate God’s gift of the harvest. It was really to celebrate that God had freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, and that God brought the people to the land flowing with milk and honey. They are instructed to ‘rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given you…’ (Deuteronomy 26:1-11).
Maybe we feel that our life today is challenging and full of uncertainties or difficulties yet still we are called to feel grateful. Grateful for those things that perhaps we take for granted; our plentiful and safe food and a roof over our head unlike many others in our world.
So, yes, it is right to give thanks at harvest time. Not only for the good material things we possess but for God Himself who has come into our world as Jesus Christ.