This is what I'm encouraging people to use to reflect on harvest this week...

Sunday 8^th October

Share worship ‘the harvest of our labours’

Monday 9^th October

Think about our community – who lives next door, do we know them? Who do we meet in the street or at the shops?

Tuesday 10^th October

Think about our daily labour – what are we good at?  How can we offer that to God? What difference does our faith make?

Wednesday 11^th October

Think about the people who seek justice, inclusion or equality – how can we make that a reality in our church community?

Thursday 12^th October

Think about the story of people working side by side to rebuild the walls – who can we work alongside to build hope, trust and community?

Friday 13^th October

Think about Operation Agri and your gift of money – what can we give to this great cause?

Saturday 14^th October

Celebrate harvest with a nice meal and a few treats!  Perhaps invite neighbours or friends to join you.

Sunday 15^th October

Share worship ‘the harvest of our love’

OK, so I didn't get as far as posting this yesterday - too busy going for a long walk and then falling asleep reading a book!!

Our reflections at church were based on Deuteronomy 16: 10 - 20 and Nehemiah 3, the former being the instructions for the three obligatory festivals of the early Israelites (Passover, Pentecost and Succoth) and the second the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

It was a slightly clumsy sermon - I had the ideas but they never quite coalesced into a coherent whole - but hopefully people got what I was trying to share.

Key to the festivals were themes of worship, community, inclusion and justice.  In my mind's eye this is a round table where people of all races, classes, backgrounds, sexualities etc. meet as equals, share conversation, are given a voice and give a voice to others.  over food the conversation flows, ideas are shared and developed and community is built.  Everyone of equal worth, everyone contributing, everyone sharing and serving each other.

The Nehemiah story paints a fabulous picture - everyone (except a few who refused) working side by side - priests, levites, scholars, civic leaders, goldsmiths, perfumiers, men and women.  Some made gates, some patched up small stretches of wall, some did longer parts.  Side by side, united in a common goal, rebuilding the city of peace, the city of God.

Somewhere in all of this is what we are about as followers of Jesus - imagining a different world order, taking risks in relationships, valuing each other, learning with and from each other and building a living temple, gathering in all who will come around a table to share in a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

Not quite what I had in mind when I came up with the title, but perhpas it's the long term image that inspires us to use our gifts and skills more intentionally in the service of God.