All creatures great and small

This is my favorite pet blessing pictures from before COVID. It just captures the joy an animal can bring in our lives.

The Pet Blessing is at 5pm on October 2nd in the Church Garden. Anyone can come, with or without a pet. It is very simple and short.

The only rule is, however well behaved your animals are, please make sure you have leashes, crates, tanks or whatever they come in. If you have the sorts of animals that might not want to be out and about feel free to snap a picture on your phone and bring that with you. We can still pray for them and for you.

Harvest Lunch and Chilli Cook-off

In the old days there were four big Festivals in the year which were linked to agriculture. In January there was the Blessing of the Ploughs, then the Blessing of the Fields in the Spring which was called Rogationtide. Then in Lammastide was the offering of the first fruits of the Harvest and, finally, Harvest itself was when, hopefully, all was safely gathered in and winter was nearly here.

Of course, these festivals go back to times when most people were working in agriculture of some sort, way before cities got so huge and jobs became industrialized. In some ways it does not make sense to celebrate Harvest when we have whatever we want, whenever we want from the grocery store.

On the other hand, there is something really important about getting in touch with the rhythm of life and the seasons. Even if we are not farming for a living we can still offer our work to God and thank God for those things which bless our lives.

This year we will be seeing a return of the Chilli Cook-off. Rules are pretty simple, it has to be some sort of Chilli. It helps if it is in a crockpot. It also helps if you provide ingredients for folks with allergies. Enter some chilli, eat some chilli, enjoy time together. Our community and our fellowship is certainly something to thank God for at any time of the year, but especially at harvest.

Creationtide

We celebrate Creationtide at the end of September running into October.

Our services change a little to reflect the theme around Creation and Creation Care. We will still be celebrating the Eucharist each Sunday.

Formation (Adult Sunday School) will be on the theme of "Listen to the Voice of Creation" - more details on that can be found here

Creationtide is a mixture of celebration, paying attention and saying sorry for those places where we are selfish or careless with all the things which are given to us.

Join us to explore and find inspiration for a cleaner, greener, more aware way of life this Fall.