A Humble House

September has been a month of astonishing fruit harvest, as plum, pear, apple, greengage trees astounded us with their abundance. In the lanes and the woods the oaks, sloes, chestnuts and horse-chestnuts rain down their bounty. There has been a joyful outpouring of neighbourly sharing, and swapping, as freezers bulge and jam pans brim. We all stand humbled under the provision of the Lord and our hearts are enlarged by the confidence of generosity. For whether we live in a mansion or a terrace, we each need to be reminded that God is good, and that his love endures.

Crunching through the careless drifts of acorns, or looking up at the laden apple bough, reminds me of the Deuteronomist’s charge: “don’t forget that you have nothing that you haven’t been given.” In the wonder of the flush of fruits, or the glory of the flower border in crisp and dewy morning, humble your house before the Lord, that he should care for the likes of us.

Harvest Services for Sunday 5th October.

9.30am Harvest Thanksgiving at St John’s, Stoke Row with Canon Kevin Davies

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

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

Midweek School Service: Checkendon Church, Wednesday 1st, 2.30pm. Everybody from the community is welcome to join in with Checkendon School’s Harvest service. Come hear the choir!

The 23rd Psalm

A summer visit to Wensleydale, with an evening in the green pastures watching a demonstration of a sheepdog working as the sun dropped below the horizon reinforced the necessity we all have of connection – with each other, with the natural world, and with God. The Dalesman, Kit Calvert, of Hawes, most famous for his founding of the Wensleydale Creamery and for the Calvert Trust, which works to facilitate disabled people’s enjoyment of the great outdoors, also “translated” the 23rd Psalm into the Wensleydale “dialect”. See how you get on “w’it”.

“The Lord is my shipperd. Ah’ll want fer nowt. / He lets m’bassock i’t’ best pastures an’ taks m’ bi’t watter side what a’s wyet an’ peeacful. / He uplifts m’soul an’ maks things seea easy ‘at./ Ah can drew w’ats reet an’ glorify His name.

Evan if Ah cu’t deeaths deursteead/ Ah’s nut bi freetened, fer He’ll bi’ wi’ me./ His creuk an’ esh plsnt’ll uphold me./ Thu puts on a good meeal afoor me, reet anenst them’ at upbraids me.

Thu ceuls me head wi’ oil an’ Ah’v meeat an’ drink t’ spar./ Seurlie Thi goodniss an’ mercy ‘al bi mine fer o’t’ days o’ mi life,

an’ Ah’ll beleng t’ t’hoose o’ the Lord fer ivver.

May the Lord be with you and your house. Do join us on Sunday to give thanks. Your Rector, Canon Kevin.