Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
It is the time in the church year when we think of
holding Harvest Festivals.
We can trace the origins of harvest festivals back to the
Bible. In the Old Testament we see that the Jewish people celebrated two
festivals.
The Feast of Weeks (Shavout) marked the first fruits of
harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot) marked the end of harvest. In
the Hebrew calendar, the Feast of Ingathering finished on the twenty-first
day of the seventh month, Tishrei, which falls between late September and late
October.
Exodus 23.16 says, ‘You shall keep the feast of
ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit
of your labour’ (NIV). It is described in Exodus 34.22, where it is called
the ‘Festival of Ingathering at the year's end’ in the traditional King James
Version or the ‘Festival of the Final Harvest’ in the New Living
Translation. It marked the end of the harvest and thus of the agricultural
year.
In (slightly) more recent times the 1662 Church of
England Book of Common Prayer included prayers for special Thanksgiving prayers
for specific occasions such as times of rain after drought, peace, deliverance
from plague, and for plenty. In years when there was an abundant harvest
nationally, there would be a nationally set Thanksgiving Day for the Church of
England to thank God for the harvest. These thanksgivings were called
Harvest Thanksgivings.
But the Harvest Festival as we think of it today is
largely attributed to the Revered Robert Hawker vicar of the parish of
Morwenstow Cornwall. In 1843. He invited his parishioners to a Harvest service
as he wanted to give thanks to God for providing such plenty. This service took
place on 1 October and bread made from the first cut of corn was taken
at communion.
Of
course many of us no longer live in rural communities. We are detached from
farms where the evidence of harvest can be seen.
In this way the offering we bring, the
fruit and vegetables, the beautiful flowers and foliage which decorate our
chapels today, can still remind us of all the good things that the Lord has
given to us, and for which we can too easily become complacent. And while we’re
saying thanks for the food we eat, what about the gas and electricity that is
used to cook the food, the petrol that gets us to the supermarket, the homes
within which we eat - there are so many things in our lives that we should be
grateful for.
David Gray
September 2024
Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
It is the time in the church year when we think of holding Harvest Festivals.
We can trace the origins of harvest festivals back to the Bible. In the Old Testament we see that the Jewish people celebrated two festivals.
The Feast of Weeks (Shavout) marked the first fruits of harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering (Sukkot) marked the end of harvest. In the Hebrew calendar, the Feast of Ingathering finished on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, Tishrei, which falls between late September and late October.
Exodus 23.16 says, ‘You shall keep the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labour’ (NIV). It is described in Exodus 34.22, where it is called the ‘Festival of Ingathering at the year's end’ in the traditional King James Version or the ‘Festival of the Final Harvest’ in the New Living Translation. It marked the end of the harvest and thus of the agricultural year.
In (slightly) more recent times the 1662 Church of England Book of Common Prayer included prayers for special Thanksgiving prayers for specific occasions such as times of rain after drought, peace, deliverance from plague, and for plenty. In years when there was an abundant harvest nationally, there would be a nationally set Thanksgiving Day for the Church of England to thank God for the harvest. These thanksgivings were called Harvest Thanksgivings.
But the Harvest Festival as we think of it today is largely attributed to the Revered Robert Hawker vicar of the parish of Morwenstow Cornwall. In 1843. He invited his parishioners to a Harvest service as he wanted to give thanks to God for providing such plenty. This service took place on 1 October and bread made from the first cut of corn was taken at communion.
Of course many of us no longer live in rural communities. We are detached from farms where the evidence of harvest can be seen.
In this way the offering we bring, the fruit and vegetables, the beautiful flowers and foliage which decorate our chapels today, can still remind us of all the good things that the Lord has given to us, and for which we can too easily become complacent. And while we’re saying thanks for the food we eat, what about the gas and electricity that is used to cook the food, the petrol that gets us to the supermarket, the homes within which we eat - there are so many things in our lives that we should be grateful for.
David Gray
September 2024