Dear Friends,

Our Harvest Praise in the village Hall was great. I hope you all enjoyed the role play that John Lea who played God's part and Frank Bishop who was St. Francis. That conversation between God and Saint Francis was very real and addresses the real ways we treat God's creation to our liking adding this and that to enrich the soil and plants and crops and animals and so on.

Then the talk by Raymond Rush who lead us all to handle what an ear of wheat chaff and to rub it in our hands throwing the chuff on the floor leaving the seeds in the palm of our hands was a real parable of the farmer sowing the seeds and his hopes of a good harvest. He pointed out also that the mess we had on the floor was just like what we are doing with God's world in polluting it and over harvesting its resources.

The Salvation Army Band led our singing and we enjoyed the hymns very much. I feel God is telling us that we should do combine services more often and encourage all Christians to come and enjoy the fellowship on neutral ground in our community.

Harvest is both social and spiritual since we share and enjoy the blessings and fruits of the earth that God has put in place for our use. There can be no manufacturer on this planet who could match or compete with the natural taste, smell, colour or beauty from what God has created.

Our response to God should be of thanksgiving honour and worship whose goodness we enjoy in many ways especially foods and drinks skills and knowledge good health and sound minds and family life and community like our own. We take these things for granted.

We have a gracious God who does not bully us nor wants to rob us of our money and wealth but wants us to see the generosity in that provision that replenishes our earth year after year without fail through our harvest. We are misled by Scientists who emphasis that our food and our own bodies have evolved by chance out of the basic building - blocks of nature.

That to me is certainly blindness of not being able to see and admire that awesome expanse of beauty in wild flowers and lilies and the golden gorse in full blossom.

St Francis of Assisi praised God for the world and its nature who saw all living things through the eye of God that made him gave praise and thanks to God the giver of all things. That is the legacy we should try to copy to be more charitable to the one who is the source and giver of what we have.

Your Fellow Co – Worker in the Gospel.

… William