Harvest Festival
Sunday 4th October 2009 dawned bright, clear and mild. Parents and children filed into the Chapel to see the sun setting the stained glass window alight, with shafts of gold and green filling the Chapel with a warm glow. Reverend Peter Russell, the College Chaplin, opened the Service and then led us in that classic Harvest hymn, ‘We plough the fields and scatter’. This was followed by the offering of gifts by children, accompanied by statements of thanksgiving given by Benjamin Graham-Horne, Lexie Dahms, Charlotte Musgrove, Chloe-Louise Gaddes, Eleanor Moss and Sophie Beeching.
We were then delighted by the The Junior, Middle and Senior School Choir with a beautiful harmonised rendition of ‘Thou Visited the Earth’. This led into a reading and a talk by the Chaplin.
Unsurprisingly, the theme of this talk was Harvest, but instead of considering all that we give, Rev. Russell asked us to think about what we take and what Harvest means to us. Having securing seven volunteers from Kirby House, he handed each of them a letter which, put together, spelt out HARVEST. He reminded us that in Genesis God gave us responsibility to look after the World and all that is in it. Saying this, he told the children that they had a number on the back of each of their letters. He then called out a series of numbers, which re-arranged the letters to spell EARTH.
He told us there are 853 million people on the planet who do not have enough food to live by, so they are left to – some nifty re-arranging of letters - STARVE. In Europe and the Western World we – more re-arranging – HAVE. In fact, we have more than we can – yet more re-arranging - EAT. Rev Russell than read out some distressing statistics, including the fact that a quarter of the 4.1 million metric tonnes of food in shops and in our homes is thrown away without having been touched. That is the equivalent to a family throwing away £610 every year! We need to stop and think. We need to learn to – yet more re-arranging – SHARE. Sharing creates a responsibility in us to plan ahead, to only buy what we need and help reduce the waste in the World.
The Rev. Russell then linked back to John, Ch 6 v 25-35 read earlier. God is the Bread of Life and bread equals food. If we love God and love each other, then we will have –final re-arrangement – a HEART. A heart for each other and a heart for God.
Following this thought provoking message was a cheerful and upbeat song, sung splendidly by the Junior School Choir entitled ‘Teach me to Dance to the Beat Your Heart’. Jamie Stagg, Junior School Head Boy, helped to conclude the service with prayers of hope for the future and, as we sang our final hymn with the sunlight still pouring in, children and parents alike felt very thankful indeed.
