"We are a non-agricultural community." I've heard it said a couple of times this weekend. It means we get our food from the supermarket rather than the village market. Supermarkets source from everywhere - so we lose track of the seasonal link to our food. We lose track of the other links too - such as the need for bees to pollinate so many crops. We are fortunate enough to only rarely suffer shortages. What can we do for a 'Harvest' celebration - what does it even mean? The traditional offering of fresh produce has been largely eliminated by quality concerns - in the name of health and safety. Making an offering of supermarket produce always seemed a bit strange, although we have done that too. In recent years, we have encouraged people to sponsor goats in Third World countries and other similar schemes.
This year, though, it was different. This year we held a scarecrow making contest. We invited anyone to make and submit a scarecrow. There was a time to make them on Saturday, and at the barn dance on Saturday evening they were in church for people to look at them. Each scarecrow comes with a description of what it's about. Scarecrows, in the wild, are rare now. Instead, we occasionally hear the loud booms of the 'bird scarers', even they don't seem to have a great effect on removing the birds. Scarecrows are still a common image, though, so it is a clever idea.
The scarecrows and the barn dance help us and some of our friends to celebrate God's goodness to us, something we don't do as much as we should. Perhaps it also helps us to realise that although the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few.
Showing posts with label Harvest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvest. Show all posts
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
A good Harvest / Everybody Welcome
When we share what we have with those who starve - that makes a good harvest.
How many words can you make from harvest - well at least starve, have and share. The young people were lead brilliantly by Liz and Richard (a Pathfinder leader), in perhaps one of the best and simplest harvest services we have had. It just goes to prove the value of a good idea. Not that Liz invented it, but finding something good and bringing it to others is what the Christian faith is about. All that really happened was the young people organising themselves to show the words. The letters were painted and decorated, the best was the tree for 'T'.
At the end of the talk they showed the words again in 'quick' succession, which gave Liz the opportunity to repeat the phrase a few times.
Harvest is one of our 'special' services, and we could certainly do a better job of telling people about it.
Everybody Welcome - Session 3: The Mystery Worshipper.
We had a reasonably good report from the Mystery Worshipper. An unannounced visitor from another church who does a brief report on their experiences. The main issue was the coffee queue, where no-one spoke to her. We discussed many of the things we could do to make people feel more welcome, but basically in comes down to not leaving them on their own to study posters or checkout the paint work. It is something that the whole congregation must do, not just the few 'keen' ones. We also had some stories from members of the congregation about the welcome they received on their first few visits. Clearly some people have a gift for this, and we can watch and learn, but remember not to leave it too long before trying what we have learnt.
How many words can you make from harvest - well at least starve, have and share. The young people were lead brilliantly by Liz and Richard (a Pathfinder leader), in perhaps one of the best and simplest harvest services we have had. It just goes to prove the value of a good idea. Not that Liz invented it, but finding something good and bringing it to others is what the Christian faith is about. All that really happened was the young people organising themselves to show the words. The letters were painted and decorated, the best was the tree for 'T'.
At the end of the talk they showed the words again in 'quick' succession, which gave Liz the opportunity to repeat the phrase a few times.
Harvest is one of our 'special' services, and we could certainly do a better job of telling people about it.
Everybody Welcome - Session 3: The Mystery Worshipper.
We had a reasonably good report from the Mystery Worshipper. An unannounced visitor from another church who does a brief report on their experiences. The main issue was the coffee queue, where no-one spoke to her. We discussed many of the things we could do to make people feel more welcome, but basically in comes down to not leaving them on their own to study posters or checkout the paint work. It is something that the whole congregation must do, not just the few 'keen' ones. We also had some stories from members of the congregation about the welcome they received on their first few visits. Clearly some people have a gift for this, and we can watch and learn, but remember not to leave it too long before trying what we have learnt.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Harvest
I'm so glad Liz took some pictures of the illustration she did for the harvest service. I had intended to do that at the evening service, but totally forgot!
My sermon for the evening service is here. The service was unusual in that we had a family come with their child. I admit I was not prepared for Children, nor was the service designed to take them into account. We should be more flexible and better able to adapt. We have much still to learn.
My sermon for the evening service is here. The service was unusual in that we had a family come with their child. I admit I was not prepared for Children, nor was the service designed to take them into account. We should be more flexible and better able to adapt. We have much still to learn.
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