Harvest Thanksgiving

Dear friends,

By the time you have finished your breakfast you will have depended upon half the world. Coffee from Africa, or Latin America, Tea from India, bread using strong flour from Canada, an orange from Spain – every breakfast table will be different, but it will have this common thread. We all depend upon a global harvest, every single day. We all depend upon the vast trade infrastructure that brings it to our door, which, mostly, we take for granted, living in naive ignorance of the effort and energy that has been expended, or those whose labour we rely upon. Just looking at the fruit bowl reveals how interconnected we all are. Last week my apples came from Kent. This week they are from New Zealand.

Our Harvest services are not just a thanksgiving for the happy completion of the gathering in from local farms and fields. The days when a whole community would turn out to pitch in are long gone – now the hired harvester machinery arrives, and works 24 hours a day, by artificial light, navigating the fields by satellite. Most of us do not even notice, such is our alienation from the fields. The hegemony of the supermarket is total.

Harvest is thus an opportunity for us to remember both local produce and also international trade – growers, packers, shippers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers – and to redouble our efforts to support fairer trade that ensures just practises across all sectors of the global food business. It is also an opportunity for us to look, with attention, at the fields we drive by on a daily basis. What is growing there? Who is growing it? Where is it going?

Worship Services for Sunday 6th October

9.30am Harvest Service at St John’s, Stoke Row with Mr Peter Ferguson

11am Harvest Festival at St Peter and Paul, Checkendon with Canon Kevin Davies, with produce stall from Manor Farm.

Midweek zoom service: Wednesday Evensong at 5.00pm  410 935 129

Midweek School Service: Checkendon Church, Wednesday 2nd, 2.30pm. Everybody from the community is welcome to join in with Checkendon School’s Harvest service. Come hear the choir!

Give a little

The Harvest season is also a time to take stock, and in the spirit of thanksgiving to make a contribution for the betterment of others. Our Harvest offering at Checkendon this year will be shared between Tear Fund, the international relief and development charity, and the Ways and Means Trust, our local mental health charity. Frances and Steve are kindly joining us again for our service at Checkendon. Please also consider giving a thank offering for the support of your church, in gratitude for what God has done for you and your family this year. To make this latter really easy, here are the relevent links: Checkendon, and Stoke Row. You can donate this way by card. Thank you!

The compost bins in the garden are stuffed to the brim, as the last of the outdoor tomato plants are recycled, their compost spread about in deserving locations, and the pots and tubs scrubbed for over-wintering in the shed. On Saturday, when the sun shone, a Red Admiral made a triumphant progress through the garden, pausing to show off his vibrant colour on a window ledge. The brambles at the side of the garage have been beaten back from the gravel, but the attack had to be paused, for time and weather. At least there is a plan. Apples are half picked; the carrots are being pulled, and the parsley is being enjoyed in great handfuls. The Russian Vine has made it to the roof, but is being spared for the moment in anticipation of October leaf colour, and also because he has cunningly intertwined with the asters, currently in full bloom notwithstanding the trials of wind and rain. There is, truly, much to thank God for if we but look with open eyes, and listen with our hearts.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, let all that is within me bless his holy name.

Your Rector, Canon Kevin.