The warmth of the sun is still managing to break through the cold nip in the air.  The clear, fresh mornings are just the kind of mornings I like.   No doubt the sun’s warmth will have faded to more wintery levels by the end of October, but it is good to enjoy it for as long as it is around!

Harvest Festival has taken place and the smell in church was fantastic when I entered the church first thing today.  We have so much to be grateful for living in this country.  Many of us are here because this is where our parents lived – an accident of birth for us.

That is why Harvest is so special – it is a time to recognise God’s goodness and say ‘thank you’.  On the altar in church there is a card from the children who came to the service – it thanks God for being the source of all goodness.  I feel sure he will be as delighted to receive a card as any of us!

All the proceeds from the Harvest Auction of fresh produce will go with the preserved goods to Doorway in Chippenham.  We hope and pray that our small efforts will give others, less fortunate than ourselves, hope in humanity.

The church life moves on at the beginning of October to what is called the Kingdom Season.  It is the last season of the church year and therefore focus is on the end times.  Not so much as to whether or not we will qualify for heaven but to focus on whether we are living our lives according to God’s plan.  If our intention is to be part of showing God’s love to others, then we can discern what it is that God wants us to do for him.  We are all linked together and each is dependent upon others.  There are so many ways we can contribute to God’s plan in both small and big ways.  A good way is to think before we act.  I read this today, when looking at a harvest website:

A ‘Chain’ Story

• Knotgrass used to be a common farmland weed.
• Weed killers sprayed on cereal fields have made the knotgrass disappear.
• A leaf beetle called Gastrophysa polygoni only ate knotgrass.
• G polygoni disappeared when the knotgrass was destroyed.
• Partridge chicks used to eat a great many G polygoni leaf beetles.
• As G polygoni disappeared the number of partridges went down.
• So the destruction of a weed indirectly affected the bird populations on our farmland

Trying to work out what it is that God wants us to do will mean knowing what you are good at and how God wants you to use that gift.  This is “discerning vocation”.  Some are called to ministry – it doesn’t have to be ordained, it can be as a Lay Pastoral Assistant, Children’s Worker, Lay Reader and yet others are called to nursing and teaching in secular employment.  To do well at anything I suggest one needs to have a natural instinct for it, a special talent recognised.

With love
Ann