On Sunday
30th September we celebrated both Back to Church Sunday and Harvest
at St. John’s
It was
wonderful to see the church so full for the 10.30 a.m. service (with twice our
recent weekly average attendance). There
was also an exciting buzz as people spotted and greeted friends that they had
not seen for a while and first time visitors were welcomed.
After the
Guide and Brownie colours had been taken up to the sanctuary during the first
hymn those who had brought food donations to support the Southport Soup Kitchen
were invited to take their contributions up to the sanctuary. Many staggered under the weight of tins etc.
and the Girl Guides did their bit to “help other people” by taking up bags of
food from those less physically active. Soon
the steps in front of the altar were completely covered.
Christine
then encouraged us to consider where we had “Got it wrong” before we confessed
our sin and the sins of our society.
Having done
this the young people led the congregation in an enthusiastic rendition of “Our
God is a great big God” before we listened to a reading from the Bible. This was taken from Mark’s Gospel Chapter 4
verses 26 – 29.
Jeremy asked us what a kingdom is and what a kingdom needed.
Having finally established that a kingdom
needed a king he went on to ask if anybody would like to represent a king. He then wanted to know what a king needed and
received a number of answers that he didn't expect (including a queen and
servants – each of which suggestion brought forth a representative from the
congregation)! Finally we got to the
crown and smart clothes – which he had prepared earlier!
Having
established what we mean by an earthly kingdom Jeremy went on to compare and contrast
this with the Kingdom
of God
Finally he
reminded everybody of everything St. John’s
We then
went on to sing and pray before the service ended with the prayer
“Creator God,
you give seed for us to sow
and bread for us to eat;
make us thankful for what we have
received
and
generous in supplying the needs of others
so all the world may give you thanks and
Glory,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen:
the
concluding hymn, “Great is Thy faithfulness”
and the
final blessing.
A retiring collection was taken in aid of TearFund.
A retiring collection was taken in aid of TearFund.
Following
the service, although some people had to leave, approximately 100 people went
through to the hall to enjoy a delicious Harvest Lunch of hot-pot and apple
pie.
