Dear friends
Starting this Sunday 17th September to Sunday 24th September we are going to have our Harvest week! Usually we have a harvest festival and celebrate on one morning but this time we are going to take a whole week where you will be able to take part and respond. This will also give some of you time to get things if that helps.
We kick off on Sunday morning at 11am with our Harvest Festival in the church building and online. There will be two options of things to give..
- We will be collecting food for the Leeds North and West food bank. They have issued a list of things they are running low on. There are soup, milk (UHT), juice (long life), sweet and savoury spreads, sponge puddings, tinned vegetables, pasta/curry sauce, tinned fish, tinned fruit, tinned rice pudding, tinned custard, tinned tomatoes, breakfast cereals/muesli, granola, tinned meat, biscuits, rice, teabags, toilet roll, powdered milk (not baby milk). You can bring these on Sunday to the service, or between 10 and 12 at Beacon café on Monday or leave them with Lesley between 10 and 12pm at the office on Tuesday. We will then take what we have to the distribution centre. If you cant make any of these times then bring along on 24th September instead and we’ll put them in the smaller donation drop off box at Sainsburys.
- We will also be giving to Caring for Life www.caringforlife.co.uk in Cookridge. They are having some improvements done to the buildings on site where the food is stored so this year they are asking for financial donations mainly, although they won’t turn food away. You could bring money in a labelled envelope or we will have a QR code on the screen on the day so you can give straight from your bank if you have a phone with capability. Again, you can transfer money or bring in envelopes on Sunday morning, Monday morning during Beacon café or by giving to Lesley on Tuesday between 10 and 12pm. We will also have the facility to give from your bank up on Sunday 24th September too.
If you have any queries just get in touch!
On Sunday we will be looking at the final part of our Transformation Toolkit from Galatians 6:7-10 but linking it with Harvest. We’ll be sharing some other ‘tools’ that we haven’t yet talked about but also it would be great to hear some of the things that help you. If you would like to share a story on this then get in touch with me, however small it may seem, it may help someone else. Last week we heard about simplicity, sometimes, so we can keep it simple, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less profound or helpful. There will be activities for our younger friends.
There are many missional charities encouraging us to think about the climate crisis at harvest time including the Baptist Missionary Society and World Vision. We will be sharing some of this through the week in our social media. If you have things you want to share in the week to others then do send it to Lesley for email or John for the website.
Harvest is also a time to be thankful. Psalm 100 verse 4 says “Come through His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise”. When we come to God this week we are encouraged to thank Him for who He is and all He has done, is doing and will do in the future. Coming close to God with thanksgiving as we pray means that our attention is first on Him and not straight on us. We recognise we are His children, the sheep of His pasture, it says in psalm 100.
Last week you may remember that there was a lot of news about what is coming up. We’ll send it out again but in the meantime a reminder that after the service on Sunday there will be a short get together about children’s sessions on Sunday’s, Rock solid begins again at 7-8 on Sunday evening, the church meeting is at 7.30pm on Tuesday and there’s a Wednesday Worship at 1.30pm on Wednesday 20 next week (come at 1pm if you want a tea or coffee) as well as all the usual stuff through the week.
In Christ
Shelley