01 October 2023
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
This has been a busy weekend at St Mary Our Lady as we have had our Harvest Thanksgiving!
On Saturday morning the church was decorated with flowers and produce by the Flower Team which as you can see in the photos has all kinds of people helping!! After several hours the church was transformed! In the evening at 6pm there was an opportunity to see the displays and to hear a local young singer Mia perform some of her songs. This was accompanied by drinks and canapes and was a splendid occasion.
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On Sunday Morning we had our Harvest thanksgiving Eucharist at 10 am. We started by admitting two new members to the Junior Choir, Annabel and Bella. Then the Junior Choir sang their song for Harvest 'Badgers and Hedgehogs' by Andrew Carter.
We then proceeded with the Eucharist, and Father Chris, who is back from holiday, was celebrant and preacher. We thought about saying thank you, and how we do this, with flowers or chocolates, or letters or just saying "thank you"! So today we say thank you to God for all the gifts we receive from the earth and from God's grace. During the offertory the gifts were bought up to the altar and they will be distributed through out the village on Monday morning.
The Choir sang 'Thou Visitest The Earth' by M Greene as the anthem, Dr Platts sang the solo.
There was coffee after the service.
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| The completed decorations. |
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| The Junior Choir singing "Badgers and Hedgehogs Bless the Lord!" |
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| The admission of Annabel and Bella to the junior Choir |
At 3.30pm we had a Choral Evensong as the finish to the Harvest Thanksgiving. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis were in D major by Charles Wood and the anthem "Ye Shall Dwell In The Land" by John Stainer with the solo sung by Mr Walker. Afterwards in true St Mary's tradition, there were tea, coffee and cakes (and also some warm savouries) in the Parish rooms. We were having such a good time we we loathe to leave!
Lots of things coming up this Autumn with the Churchyard family working morning next Saturday, the Alpha Course starts on the 17th October, more information in Church, and we will be having our traditional Eucharist for All Souls, during which the Faure Requiem will be sung Liturgically, on the 28th of October. If you would like to sing the Faure, all are welcome, there will be a rehearsal on the Saturday afternoon and the service will be at 6pm. This is a beautiful service in which to take part and remember those we love but no longer see here on earth.
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.
The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land,
a land with flowing streams,
with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills,
a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land of olive trees and honey,
a land where you may eat bread without scarcity,
where you will lack nothing,
a land whose stones are iron
and from whose hills you may mine copper.
You shall eat your fill
and bless the Lord your God for the good land
that he has given you.
Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God,
by failing to keep his commandments,
his ordinances, and his statutes,
which I am commanding you today.
When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them,
and when your herds and flocks have multiplied,
and your silver and gold is multiplied,
and all that you have is multiplied,
then do not exalt yourself,
forgetting the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,
who led you through the great and terrible wilderness,
an arid waste-land with poisonous snakes and scorpions.
He made water flow for you from flint rock,
and fed you in the wilderness with manna
that your ancestors did not know,
to humble you and to test you,
and in the end to do you good.
Do not say to yourself,
‘My power and the might of my own hand
have gained me this wealth.’
But remember the Lord your God,
for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,
so that he may confirm his covenant
that he swore to your ancestors,
as he is doing today.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind,
not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance,
so that by always having enough of everything,
you may share abundantly in every good work.
As it is written, ‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures for ever.’
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food
will supply and multiply your seed for sowing
and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity,
which will produce thanksgiving to God through us;
for the rendering of this ministry
not only supplies the needs of the saints
but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.
Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God
by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ
and by the generosity of your sharing with them
and with all others,
while they long for you
and pray for you
because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Luke 12:16-30
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Jesus told the people a parable:
‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly.
And he thought to himself,
“What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?”
Then he said, “I will do this:
I will pull down my barns and build larger ones,
and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I will say to my soul,
Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
relax, eat, drink, be merry.”
But God said to him,
“You fool!
This very night your life is being demanded of you.
And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves
but are not rich towards God.’
He said to his disciples,
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
For life is more than food,
and the body more than clothing.
Consider the ravens:
they neither sow nor reap,
they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.
Of how much more value are you than the birds!
And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that,
why do you worry about the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!
And do not keep striving
for what you are to eat and what you are to drink,
and do not keep worrying.
For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things,
and your Father knows that you need them.
