Post by Alfred Dunholm on Oct 11, 2010 23:00:42 GMT
Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.
For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.
Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.
For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.
Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.
Archbishop Dunholm: As long as the earth endures seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.
Gracious God, Creator, Redeemer and life-giver, the whole earth is alive with your glory, overflowing with wonder and beauty and grace.
All: We offer you our worship and praise.
Archbishop Dunholm: Let us make our confession to God. Gracious Lord, source of all goodness and love. We confess the obscuring of you imagine within us; the times we betray you and one another; when we neglect the poor and the broken or fail to cherish creation. We confess our striving against your Spirit; our reluctance to hear other people’s stories, to cooperate and collaborate, or to work in harmony with creation.
All: Forgive us that we may forgive one another. Set us free that we may bring freedom and hope to others. Renew us that we may share in the renewal of all things. Amen.
Archbishop Dunholm: Bountiful God, you invite us to share in the work of creation, employing our time and energies, our wisdom and gifts. Renew us by your Holy Spirit, and grant that our collaboration may be to your glory, bringing relief to those in need and well-being to one another; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord of beauty, thine the splendour
Shewn in earth and sky and sea,
Burning sun and moonlight tender,
Hill and river, flower and tree:
Lest we fail our praise to render
Touch our eyes that they may see.
Lord of wisdom, whom obeying
Mighty waters ebb and flow,
While unhasting, undelaying,
Planets on their courses go:
In thy laws thyself displaying,
Teach our minds thyself to know.
Lord of life, alone sustaining
All below and all above,
Lord of love, by whose ordaining
Sun and stars sublimely move;
In our earthly spirits reigning,
Lift our hearts that we may love.
Lord of beauty, bid us own thee,
Lord of truth, our footsteps guide
Till as love our hearts enthrone thee,
And, with vision purified,
Lord of all, when all have known thee,
Thou in all art glorified.
Shewn in earth and sky and sea,
Burning sun and moonlight tender,
Hill and river, flower and tree:
Lest we fail our praise to render
Touch our eyes that they may see.
Lord of wisdom, whom obeying
Mighty waters ebb and flow,
While unhasting, undelaying,
Planets on their courses go:
In thy laws thyself displaying,
Teach our minds thyself to know.
Lord of life, alone sustaining
All below and all above,
Lord of love, by whose ordaining
Sun and stars sublimely move;
In our earthly spirits reigning,
Lift our hearts that we may love.
Lord of beauty, bid us own thee,
Lord of truth, our footsteps guide
Till as love our hearts enthrone thee,
And, with vision purified,
Lord of all, when all have known thee,
Thou in all art glorified.
Archbishop Dunholm: May I speak in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. In what I intend to be a very brief sermon I would like to begin by drawing your attention back to the first hymn we sung, “Come ye thankful people, come.” The hymn begins simply enough by thanking God for his bounty, which is of course the main reason we are here, however as I’m sure you will have noticed the verses which follow have a much deeper message which I’d like to elaborate on.
The hymn states that “we ourselves are God’s own field”, and that is indeed an interesting concept. The Lord has prepared us for the task to which our very creation is attributed, and having planted the seeds of faith within us we are trusted to yield that which the Lord our God wishes to reap. And what, some might ask, is it that the Lord wishes to gain from us? The fruit of the faith we have must be love, peace, devotion and praise. That is what the Lord intends for us, and therefore we must grow in these qualities so that, when the harvest day comes, God will be pleased at what we have achieved in our time. Mother Teresa once said that she was a pencil in the hand of God; and indeed we all our, and it is with us, His instruments, that the Lord our God intends to write his message upon the face of His earth. Amen.
We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand:
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft, refreshing rain.
Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord,
For all his love.
He only is the maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey him,
By him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, his children,
He gives our daily bread.
We thank thee then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer
For all thy love imparts,
And what thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
Refrain
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand:
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft, refreshing rain.
Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord,
For all his love.
He only is the maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey him,
By him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, his children,
He gives our daily bread.
We thank thee then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer
For all thy love imparts,
And what thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
Refrain
Archbishop Dunholm: The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it; the world and all that lives in it.
All: Thanks be to God.
Archbishop Dunholm:May God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of all goodness and growth, pour his blessings upon all things created, and upon us his children, that you may use his gifts to his glory and the welfare of all peoples; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen
Tend the earth, care for God’s good creation, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness. God in the peace of Christ.
All:thanks be to God.
