Sunday 29th September was an absolutely glorious
day – a wonderful day for our Harvest Thanksgiving Service!
This was all-age worship combined with a parade service.
The colours were presented as we sang the hymn “Come, ye
thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest-home!”
Having confessed our sins we then asked for God’s
forgiveness before we sang our second hymn “Give thanks with a grateful heart”
whilst the harvest gifts and offerings were brought up to the Holy Table. [The harvest gifts were destined for the
Southport Soup Kitchen and the loose collection for the charity, Tear Fund.]
The Bible reading was from Matthew 25 v 31-46 and was
followed by an illustrated talk (laden with apples) from our vicar, Jeremy.
Having agreed that, however generous we were, we could never
match God’s giving to us, we went on to sing, “Come on and celebrate! His gift of love we will celebrate…”.
After this hymn Sal introduced Tom who goes to St. Vincent’s
School, a Specialist School for Sensory Impairment and Other Needs. Tom had very kindly come to our church to
receive a donation for his school that was raised by donations to the WOW4
Holiday Club and the subsequent “bucket collection” held in church.
Tom’s mum, Tina, movingly explained what St.
Vincent’s School meant to her and Tom and the difference it made to their
lives. Then Tom told us what he thought
the “absolutely best thing about the school” was. This turned out to be the “Talking
Menu”! However, the swimming pool,
computers and holiday camps featured pretty highly too!
I am delighted to be able to report that two of the ex WOW4
Holiday Club members, Francesca and Abbie, were able to present Tom with a
donation of £515.70.
We then joined together in saying the Creed before three
members of the Eagles (Hannah, Laura and Lucy) ably led our intersessions.
The service was brought to a close by a collect for harvest
and the Lord’s Prayer before the colours were retrieved as we all sang the much
loved hymn “We Plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land, but it
is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand…”
After the service it took Judith, and a team of strong
helpers, quite a while to load her poor little car with all the gifts for the
Southport Soup Kitchen. (There was a lot
on the front seat too!)
“Many thanks” to everybody who came to the service for their
generosity both to the Southport Soup Kitchen and to TearFund
and also a big “thank you” to all those who contributed to
the donation for St. Vincent’s School.
Also, I should like to thank Tom and his family for coming
to our service, talking to us and accepting our donation on behalf of St.
Vincent’s School. What a credit to the
school you are Tom!
For more information about St. Vincent’s School go to www.stvin.com and if you want to know more
about the Southport Soup Kitchen go to www.southportsoupkitchen.co.uk/
or speak to Judith Foster.
