 APC 18th October 2020 Harvest Celebration (Online) Part 1 Michael Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our very special Harvest Celebration. I want to begin today by passing on our deepest sympathies to Dorothy Mclean and all her family. Sadly Dorothy’s father passed away recently. Dorothy has been back and forwards to England over the last number of months but now that she is returned home, I wanted to take this opportunity to pass on our deepest condolences from our church family. Please do keep Dorothy, her mum, Stuart, Joseph, Orla and the wider family in your prayers at this time. Today we meet to thank God for all his goodness to us and also to remind ourselves that because God has been so generous to us we must share with others. Today we will hear particularly about the work of two local charities- Purple House Cancer Support and the Arklow Lifeboat. I hope that all of us will take this harvest opportunity to generously support the work of these two organisations. But to begin I want to read you the words of a Psalm. Psalm 67 is a beautiful song written by one of the Israelites during one of Israel’s harvest festivals. Let’s listen to its words as we join together today to offer our praise to God for all His goodness to us… Call to Worship Psalm 67 Lord God, Be gracious to us and bless us Make Your face shine on us so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will yield its harvest; and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us and all the ends of the earth will fear him. Introduction to Kid’s Praise Let’s join together in singing God’s praise as our children’s choir lead us in the harvest hymn “All Things bright and beautiful.” Kid’s Choir All Things bright and beautiful (VIDEO) Part 2 Michael Introduction to Opening Prayer Boys and girls that was just lovely. Thank you so much for leading us so well in our praise to God. Now let’s take a few moments to talk to God. Let us pray… Opening Prayer Almighty and eternal God, we rejoice today in the greatness of your love and the fullness of your provision. We come together surrounded by the fruits of your creation, the rich variety and the plenty of another harvest. Once more you have blessed us, and we thank you. Receive then our worship- for your giving and sustaining of life, for the constancy of the seasons, for the regular pattern of day and night, for the wonderful riches of our world. Once more you have blessed us, and we thank you. Receive also our praise for the human labour that is part of our harvest – the preparing and sowing, the cultivating and growing, the reaping and packaging, the transporting and selling. Once more you have blessed us, and we thank you. Eternal God, we thank you that you allow us to work hand in hand with you, nurturing and gathering in the fruitfulness of your creation. Help us to recognise the responsibility that involves and so to be faithful stewards of all you have given. So may our lives as well as our words offer to you our joyful praise and heartfelt worship. Once more you have blessed us, and we thank you, Amen. Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer We are so blessed to have so many young people in our church family. We’re all in for a real treat now as the boys and girls lead us in saying the Lord’s Prayer together… Kid’s Lord’s Prayer (VIDEO) Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Part 3 Michael Boys and girls that was very special, thank you. I can’t believe how well those of you who are much younger can read. You are obviously working very hard in school! We’ve been blessed over this Covid 19 period with some beautiful choir pieces and solos online and in church. So I’m delighted that Alison and our virtual choir will now lead us in the beautiful harvest piece, “Come ye thankful people come.” Virtual Choir Come ye thankful people come (VIDEO) Part 4 Michael Introduction to Bible Reading In the Old Testament we discover that God instructed his people the Israelites to stop at various points in the year and to bring him a portion of their Harvest as a ‘thank’ offering. He also gave them instructions not to harvest right to the edge of their fields but to leave some of the crop for the people who were poor so that they could share in the harvest. Listen to how this is recorded in Leviticus Chapter 19 v 9 and 10. Bible Reading Leviticus 19 v 9-10 9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.” All Age Talk “Why do we celebrate Harvest?” Has anyone here ever seen the TV series or read the books called “Horrible histories”? Finding out about what happened many years ago in different parts of the world can be really fun and interesting. History is really important. What happened in the past always shapes what things are like in the present and what happens today will shape what things will be like in the future! Today we have gathered online to have a special Harvest Thanksgiving Service. The reason we do that has a lot to do with history! You see, thousands of years ago, God told a group of people called ‘the Israelites’ to hold 2 Special Celebrations every year. Do you know what they were called? Well to help us remember I have brought two familiar food items with me this morning. Fruit Pastilles- The first festival took place in April and was called the “Feast of the First Fruits”. Time Out- The second festival took place in June and was called the “Feast of Weeks” and to celebrate it the people were allowed a whole day off work! At that time in history most of the people were farmers. During these two Festivals they brought God some of the food and animals and drink that they had been producing during the year. They brought bread and wine and cows and sheep and they gave them to the Priest who then said a prayer to ask God to accept the gifts that they had brought. It might seem like a strange thing to do, but at that time in history, in that culture, this was the Israelite’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to God for sending the sun and the rain to help their crops and animals and grapes for the wine to grow. People who are Jews around the world today still continue to celebrate these two festivals every year. About 2,000 years ago the Christian church began. It was started mainly by Jewish people who believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Over the years, the Christian church realised that they too needed to have a Special Festival every year in order to say ‘thank you’ to God for all the food and things he provides them with. That’s why we are having a special online harvest festival today. We have met to sing, to pray, to remember all the good things that God has provided for us over the past year, and to say a big “Thank You” to God for all that He gives us every day. As Christian people, there are many reasons why it’s really important for us to maintain our tradition of a Harvest Festival? For one thing, it forces us to stop in our busy lives and to actively remind ourselves that ultimately everything we have including our food and drink comes from God. It would simply be rude of us not to stop and say thank you to God for all that He gives us. Apart from having a church service, there are also other ways that we can show God that we really do appreciate everything that He gives us in our lives? Before we eat anything we can quietly pause and inwardly say ‘thank you’ to God. We can do our best to look after the environment and try our best not to waste things but to make things last. We can talk to God regularly and thank Him for all the good things He gives us. There is one other ancient harvest tradition that we try to keep alive in our Church Services. In the Feast of Weeks one of the instructions God gave the Israelites was that when they gathered in the crops in their fields they were not allowed to cut the grain at the edges of the fields. And if they dropped some stalks of grain they weren’t allowed to pick them up again. They did this so that poor people could come along after the harvest was over and gather up enough grain to make bread to keep them alive. Telling His people to follow this tradition was God’s way of reminding His people that because He had shared the sun and rain with them to make their crops grow, they ought to share their harvest with people who were poor. In the same way, throughout its history, the Christian church has always made sure that at every Harvest Service there is a collection to help other people who are in need. This year as a church we have decided to have a collection for two local charities. The first is Purple House Cancer support in Bray and the second is the RNLI Arklow Lifeboat Station. So that you can understand a little more about these two charities and how the money you give to them will be used, I have invited two representatives of these organisations to send us a short video presentation. So without further ado let me introduce you to Mr Conor O’Leary who is the Manager for Purple House and Mr Tommy Annesley who is the Chair of the Arklow Lifeboat Committee. 3 VIDEO PRESENTATIONS- Conor O’Leary Manager Purple House Cancer Support (Promo) Purple House Covid Impact (Video) Tommy Annesley Chair of Arklow Lifeboat Committee (Video) Part 5 Michael Harvest is a time for thanking God for all the food and good things He gives us. Harvest is a time for sharing with others. Let me encourage you to be generous in your financial support of these charities. You can contribute using the church Bank details that you will find on the church website, just remember to mark your transaction as for the Harvest Appeal. Alternatively, you can ring Aleida our treasurer and organise an alternative method of payment that would be more suitable for you. Introduction to Prayers for Others As well as many children we are also blessed by the number of fantastic teenagers that we have in our church family. It’s been such a shame that with Covid restrictions it’s been almost impossible to be able to get them together but we do look forward to being able to do that again in the future. But I’m just delighted this morning that some of our teenagers and some of our younger children are going to lead us now in prayers for others. So let’s pray… Prayer for Others (VIDEO) Prayer 1 (Zander Crammond) Thank you God for farmers like my grandad and dad who grow crops for us to eat, Amen. Prayer 2 (Chloe Crammond) Thank you for the tatoes and the carrots and the beans, Amen. Prayer 3 (Magnus Coelho) Dear God, please be with the fishermen who give us fish to eat. Also protect the people who work for the RNLI as they go out sometimes in stormy weather, Amen. Prayer 4 (April Prestage) Dear God, thank you for the lovely weather, trees and flowers. Please help us to be more careful with your world and not to create too much pollution, Amen. Prayer 5 (Jasmin Quintin) Thank you for our friends and family. Keep them safe and well. And help the doctors and nurses to look after everyone who is unwell. Prayer 6 (Patrick Anderson) God we thank you for all that you have provided for us and all that we enjoy. Help us to share what you have given us with people who are in need. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Prayer 7 (Roisin Quintin) Today we thank you for all the staff working in Purple House. We pray that through all their efforts people who have lost family members from cancer would find comfort, healing and the encouragement they need to still enjoy life despite their loss. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. Prayer 8 (Joshua and Matthew Theron) Today we also thank you for all the staff who work so that we can have a lifeboat here in Arklow. Thank you for all the work they do and for how many people they have helped over the years. Please continue to provide all the resources they need to keep this service running. Please keep all the crew safe as they risk their lives to save the lives of others. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen. Part 6 Closing Words and Introduction to Virtual Choir It’s just so great to see and hear so many of our young people leading us in prayer. Our huge thanks to you and to your parents for helping us with that. I really do hope you have enjoyed our Online Harvest service this morning. It’s been many weeks in the making and it’s been a real team effort. I’m so proud of everyone who has taken part and who has enabled the service to be so special. I would like to give a special thanks to our new Clerk of Session Mrs Edna Crammond – Edna thank you for brightening up my office this week for the recording with your beautiful flowers and vegetables. A huge thanks also goes to Isabelle Fenton who stitched lots of the prayers together on her computer. Well done Izzy. Special thanks also to Tara and Emma for coordinating the prayers and to Alison and all the members of our virtual choirs for the lovely music. Thanks to our charity representatives Conor and Tommy for sending me on their little recordings. And last but not least, thank you so much to Dave Hendry who had to put over 10 different videos together in order to give us what we have enjoyed this morning. Let me encourage you to be generous in your financial support of these charities. You can contribute using the church Bank details that you will find on the church website. Just mark your transaction for the Harvest Appeal. Alternatively you can ring Aleida our treasurer and organise an alternative method of payment that would be more suitable for you. Don’t forget to log in again on Wednesday morning when we will be reflecting on what it means to pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Do stay logged on as in a moment, I want to invite you to join in and sing together as Alison and all the members of our virtual choir lead us in the wonderful harvest hymn “We plough the fields and scatter”… But just before that, let me lead you in a Benediction after which I invite you as always, to say the grace together… Benediction May God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the source of all goodness and growth, pour his blessing upon all things created, and upon you his children, that you may use his gifts to his glory and the welfare of all people, and…. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.” Closing Praise We plough the fields and scatter (VIDEO) The Arklow Presbyterian Church Bank Account details can be obtained by clicking the link below.
www.arklowpresbyterianchurch.com/get-information.html
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