Harvest at St Aldhelm's

“May the meadows be clothed with flocks of sheep and the valleys stand so thick with corn that they shall laugh and sing” Psalm 65.13

Mother Anna writes:

I grew up in a small town in Lancashire. Wherever you are in that town, you are never more than a 15-minute walk from a sheep.

Cows too. But no valleys standing thick with corn – my home town was set among moors and hills, too wild for arable farming.

So although I grew up in a town I lived a fairly rural life, in a town small enough and wild enough that my brothers and I grew up ranging around the nearby countryside. Open space began outside our front door – by the time we were 10 or 11 we would leave the house and other than having to cross a road occasionally we could walk in the wild for miles as soon as we left the garden. Then and now, hill walking among the sheep filled me with joy and peace.

The land around us was a part of our life. Milk was delivered to our door by the farmer’s wife in bottles with the farm’s name. When we walked over the moors the paths took us through farmyards and fields of sheep, barking sheepdogs alerting the farmers as we passed by their barns. We picked berries on the moors, filling our faces with fruit and taking full bags home for  pies.

Harvest Festival was a big deal. Harvest was the only Sunday when the farming families came to church – we held an extra service for them, in the afternoon, after the morning farm work was done. To my child’s eyes, the church was a marvel that day – every window ledge and shelf, every inch of the sanctuary piled high with produce, fruit and veg from farms and allotments, tins from the supermarket.  

On that day, in that place, Harvest Festival made sense. It celebrated our connection to the land, the importance of the harvest, the mutual reliance we had with the farmers whose sheep dotted the hillsides.

But what about Harvest in London? After living most of my life in London it still puzzles me that we celebrate Harvest in our churches every year. Why do we do this? The hills here never stand thick with corn and there are no meadows at all to be clothed with flocks of sheep. So why Harvest?

There are good reasons, of course. Mainly, I think in a city it is important to remind ourselves of the link between the food on our plate and the land and the agriculture that puts it there – maybe even more important to do that here, where the connection isn’t obvious, where children may grow up without ever seeing sheep in the meadows or crops in the valleys. It is also important to be thankful now and then, to make an occasion for thankfulness, to express our thankfulness to God for the blessings of God’s creation and the food which sustains us.

Harvest is also an important reminder that we should share, give to others out of the blessings we receive from God. We collect food here in Edmonton at Harvest to give to others, just as people do in rural communities, giving out of our own abundance to those who have less than us.

At St Aldhelm’s, the gifts we will receive when we celebrate Harvest this Sunday will go to our Foodbank, feeding people in our neighbourhood. We ask that you share as generously as you can – bring food into church on Sunday, especially the things you can see listed in the photo above, things which we know are needed, things which will keep in our food store. And if you can’t be in church or haven’t got time to organise gifts from your cupboard, then by all means give from your wallet instead – use this link to give money to support our Windmill projects, feeding people, connecting people and meeting the needs of our parish.

And if you can, one day soon, make like 10-year-old Anna and go for a wander in the countryside and check out the sheep.

With my prayers.

Concert CHANGE OF DATE Our forthcoming concert will now be held two weeks later than planned and will take place on 31 October. We will start publicising the concert this week – please make sure your friends and family know about the new date. Thank you.

Thanksgiving and Giving Service 25 October As we give thanks for the blessings of our lives we also give generously to the church which sustains us. Come prepared to give thanks and to give generously  – we need your support to continue with our work and pay the bills.

All Souls 1 November At this service at 3pm on 1 November we will read out names of people dear to us who have died. Please email Tom our administrator with names to be read out admin@aldhelms.org.uk

Confirmations 6 December If you are interested in being confirmed talk to Mthr Anna – most of the preparation will take place during our regular Sunday services on the following dates:

4 Oct    Sin and Forgiveness

18 Oct  Being Disciples

1 Nov   Death and Eternal Life

22 Nov  Jesus

29 Nov  The Eucharist

Dates for the diary

25 Oct    Thanksgiving and Giving service

31 Oct    Fundraising concert

1 Nov     10am All Saints

              3pm All Souls with incense

8 Nov    Remembrance Service

15 Nov   Safeguarding Sunday

22 Nov  Christ the King with incense

5 Dec     Christmas Bazaar

6 Dec     Confirmations with Bishop Anderson

20 Dec   Bring & Share lunch followed by

              3pm Carol Service