These are resources for a celebraton of Harvest Thanksgiving on Sunday, October 11, 2020. The resources are gathered from a variety of sources and, while assembled mainly for The Anglican Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Kefalas, on the island of Crete in Greece, others may find them useful.
Read
The readings appointed by Common Worship are a little different from the Revised Common Lectionary, and provide some options. In the Anglican Church of St Thomas, Kefalas we will use:
Deuteronomy 28.1-14
Psalm 65
2 Corinthians 9.6-15
Luke 12.16-30
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The pandemic restrictions are continuing in the Prefecture of Chania (which includes Apokoronas and Kefalas). This means that gatherings of more than nine (9) persons are still forbidden. As we have since the last Sunday in August, we will not meet in person.
BUT, you can join us via Zoom!
Click this link, or enter the information at right into your Zoom app: Meeting ID: 850 4483 9927 Password: 010209. My thanks to the Reverend Julia Bradshaw, our deacon and curate, for leading the services over the past two Sundays, and to Jan Lovell for being the Zoom host.
The format of the service can be downloaded:
If you do not want to join us via Zoom, then you can simply do it all yourself – read the lessons and pray the prayers below, and intersperse it all by clicking on the links to the hymns.
Reflect
I have not been very good at posting my recent sermons, but let’s see if I do any better now that I have had a vacation.
In the meantime, click here for a sermon by St Augustine on the theme of harvest and mission.
Pray
Collect: Prayer of the Day
Eternal God, you crown the year with your goodness
and you give us the fruits of the earth in their season:
grant that we may use them to your glory,
for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Thanksgivings
Let us give thanks to God,the God of all peoples of the earth.
For the colour and forms of your creation
and our place within it,
we bring our thanks, good Lord:
your mercy endures for ever.
For our daily food,
and for those whose work and skill
bring your good gifts to us,
we bring our thanks, good Lord:
your mercy endures for ever.
For the gifts and graces inspired in human minds and hearts;
for insight and imagination,
for the skills of research
which bring healing and fulfilment to the lives of many;
we bring our thanks, good Lord:
your mercy endures for ever.
For the light and shades of the changing seasons,
and their variety and dependability;
for new life and growth out of barrenness and decay;
we bring our thanks, good Lord:
your mercy endures for ever.
For new hope and strength in our communities,
especially in your Church and among all you call to serve you,
we bring our thanks, good Lord;
your mercy endures for ever.
For all in whose lives we see
goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience and humility,
and all the fruit of the Spirit,
we bring our thanks, good Lord:
your mercy endures for ever.
For the life we have been given,
and for all those whom you have given us to share it,
we bring our thanks, good Lord:
your mercy endures for ever.
Biddings
I bid your prayers for the leaders of the nations; especially
- Katerini Sakellaropoulou, President of Greece, and
- Kyriakos Mitsotakis the Prime Minister of Greece;
- Elizabeth, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and her other realms, and also in her role as Governor of the Church of England;
- and Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of her British government;
- In the European Union,
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission;
- Charles Michel, President of the European Council; and
- Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy;
- For negotiations around Brexit;
- the peoples of Belarus as they continue to demonstrate for democracy;
- for the peoples of the United States as they enter the last weeks before their elections;
- for advocates of Indigenous rights and the adoption and implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
- prisoners and captives, especially the over one million Uigers being held in detention in China;
- for a lessening of tensions between Turkey and Greece; and
- for peace in Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and between Palestinians and Israelis.
I bid your prayers for the sick and suffering and all who minister to their needs;
- remembering the over 8 million active cases of the novel coronavirus, and mourning with the families of the over 1 million who have died in the pandemic;
- and also remembering those ill with other diseases, and those whose operations have been postponed;
- the over 79.5 million refugees and nearly 4 million stateless person, remembering especially the crucial situation of Greece.
I bid your prayers for the Church:
- for Robert Innes & David Hamid, our bishops;
- for Justin Welby our archbishop, Stephen Cottrell the Archbishop of York, and the General Synod of the Church of England;
- for the reception of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (“IICSA”) by the Church of England, and efforts at improving Safeguarding in our churches;
- for the churches and peoples of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico (World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer Cycle);
- in the Anglican Communion, we remember the Church of Uganda and The Most Revd Stephen Samuel Kaziimba, the Archbishop of Uganda & and Bishop of Kampala (Anglican Cycle of Prayer); and
- (from the Prayer Diary of the Diocese in Europe) give thanks for:
- our full communion relationship with the Lutheran Churches of the Porvoo Agreement (Lutheran Churches in Europe that have maintained or restored the historic Apostolic Succession, namely:
- Pray for the Porvoo Contact Group.
- Pray for our partnership with United Society Partners in the Gospel (“USPG”).
Intercessions
Let us offer our prayers to God for the life of the world
and for all God’s people in their daily life and work.
God, the beginning and end of all things,
in your providence and care
you watch unceasingly over all creation;
we offer our prayers
that in us and in all your people your will may be done,
according to your wise and loving purpose in Christ our Lord.
Lord of all life: hear our prayer.
We pray for all through whom we receive sustenance and life;
for farmers and agricultural workers,
for packers, distributors and company boards;
as you have so ordered our life that we depend upon each other,
enable us by your grace to seek the well-being of others before our own.
Lord of all creation: hear our prayer
We pray for all engaged in research to safeguard crops against disease,
and to produce abundant life among those who hunger
and whose lives are at risk.
Prosper the work of their hands
and the searching of their minds,
that their labour may be for the welfare of all.
Lord of all wisdom: hear our prayer.
We pray for governments and aid agencies,
and those areas of the world where there is disaster, drought
and starvation.
By the grace of your Spirit, touch our hearts
and the hearts of all who live in comfortable plenty,
and make us wise stewards of your gifts.
Lord of all justice: hear our prayer.
We pray for those who are ill,
remembering those in hospital and nursing homes
and all who are known to us.
We pray for all who care for them.
Give skill and understanding
to all who work for their well-being.
Lord of all compassion: hear our prayer.
We remember those who have died,
whom we entrust to your eternal love
in the hope of resurrection to new life.
Lord of all peace: hear our prayer.
We offer ourselves to your service,
asking that by the Spirit at work in us
others may receive a rich harvest of love and joy and peace.
Lord of all faithfulness: hear our prayer.
God of grace,
as you are ever at work in your creation,
so fulfil your wise and loving purpose in us
and in all for whom we pray,
that with them and in all that you have made,
your glory may be revealed
and the whole earth give praise to you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Island Parson 