In our churches recently we have been celebrating Harvest Thanksgiving. It’s four down and one to go. In lots of ways harvest appears anachronistic. Even in rural parishes like ours few people work the land today. Most working people commute to nearby towns and some even further to our cities. Most of us are hardly affected by the success or otherwise of the harvest.
So why do we keep on with Harvest Thanksgiving? Is it just that it’s an opportunity to get more people into church than we would normally have? And why do people who otherwise hardly ever come to church come for the harvest service? Does the harvest celebration just make us feel good, or is there something deeper, perhaps something only half acknowledged? (more…)
as brought chaos and anxiety to the north of the country. I know it’s the fourth storm because the Met Office now gives them names and this one is called Desmond. High winds have led to bridge closures, homes are without power, homes have been evacuated as the floods rise, the army has been called in and the government has called emergency meetings to discuss the right response to the crisis. All of this at the same time as the Paris Climate talks are taking place as world leaders endeavour to find a way to agree on the measures that need to be taken to minimise the effects on the world of global warming. 
exultemus 