Harvest Thanksgiving Services 2024
Come, Join In Our Services of Thanksgiving!
Sunday 13th October at 11.30am
Rev Alistair Smyth, Carryduff
Sunday 13th October at 6.30pm
Rev Ian Abraham, First Keady and Armaghbreague
Special Harvest Offering to Renovation and Building Fund
In every day and season that God grants you now, know, love and serve the LORD with a humble, thankful heart.
During October we will also be able to share with others by collecting non-perishable foodstuffs for foodbank donation - these can be left in the vestibule on Sundays.
Harvest time is almost upon us once again!
"Accept the gifts we offer for all Thy love imparts and - what Thou most desirest - our humble, thankful hearts."
This year, the Harvest Services will be held on Sunday 13 October 2024 at 11.30am and 6.30pm. Conducting the morning service (d.v.) will be the Rev Alistair Smyth, minister of Carryduff Presbyterian Church. Then, in the evening service, the guest preacher will be Rev lan Abraham, minister of the PCI congregations of First Keady and Armaghbreague. If at all possible for you, please plan to attend both services (morning and evening) for Harvest. A well-filled meetinghouse will be an encouragement to the two men who are travelling a distance to minister God's Word to us.
In keeping with our practice for the past number of years, the special Harvest Offering will be allocated to the congregation's property fund (the No.2 Account). As well as for the necessary maintenance of the meetinghouse, church hall, manse, graveyard, car park and grounds, this fund is used for major property projects. Our Congregational Committee is continuing with the long-term, phased refurbishment of the church building. Now that the external stonework has been repointed, and the annexe remodelled, the next part to this project is to address the interior of the meetinghouse walls. This is likely to prove to be a major task. And in addition to this, the Committee also is seeking to progress a second major project, to extend the graveyard. Please hold the members of the Committee in your prayers as they work on behalf of the congregation, Thank you, in advance, for your support of this year's special Harvest Offering. Give as you are led, and as you are able. And please do make every effort to be present at our morning and evening services of harvest thanksgiving on Sunday 13 October.
Harvest Sunday is one of the annual dates in our church calendar. Here are some of the other dates that have been set in place for the year ahead, subject to the will of the Lord.
• Sunday 20 October (morning) - Enrolment Service for our Girls' Brigade Company
• Sunday 3 November (morning) - Service to include the Communion of the Lord's Supper
• Sunday 17 November (morning) - Enrolment Service for our Boys' Brigade Company
• Sunday 22 December (afternoon) - Church Family Carol Service (at 4.00pm).
Looking into 2025 (d.v.), the annual treasure hunt and barbecue is being planned for Friday 13 June, and the Summer Outreach Week (S.O.W.) will be from Sunday 27 July to Sunday 3 August.
Other events also are in the diary - such as the series of weeknight services in which we share with the other churches in Waringstown and Donaghcloney in the week leading up to Easter Sunday. In 2025, these will be held from Monday 14 April to Friday 18 April. The four churches in Donaghcloney will continue to partner one another in outreach, and events will be held under the "Donacloney Together" banner throughout the year. Please join us in praying for God's blessing on these efforts.
These are days for prayer. The words at the top of this letter are from "We plough the fields and scatter," and the harvest hymn reminds us that we depend on God for everything. Those who work the land plough and sow, but their best efforts cannot guarantee a crop. The seed needs to be "fed and watered by God's almighty hand." Without Him, there would be no growth, no produce, and nothing to reap.
Indeed, "all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above." In our harvest thanksgiving, then (and not only in our harvest thanksgiving), it is right for us, with gladness and in sincerity, to "thank the Lord for all His love." But praise and petition go together, and it is right also to ask. Please pray earnestly for God the Holy Spirit to do a mighty work in this area. Pray that the Word of God may go forth in power, that people will be awakened to the things of eternity, that God will lead them to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and to new and holy lives in Him. Pray and plead for God's kingdom to come, that we may see the kingdom of grace advance, with all its attendant fruitfulness.
Within our own congregation, the elders' districts have been redrafted so that the Kirk Session may have a more direct engagement with every household associated with the church. On a wider level, the General Assembly has committed the Church to a major reconfiguration of ministry, to shift PCI's focus to a more intentionally missional footing. Please pray that God will direct, bless and use all these endeavours for the working out of His purposes in our day and generation.
The words with which this letter began bring a challenge and a comfort that form a fitting conclusion. What God most desires are "humble, thankful hearts." Humble, in that they no longer stand at a distance from God in proud defiance, but acknowledge Him as Lord, and yield to Him in everything. Thankful, in that they recognise His wisdom, rest in His goodness and rejoice in His love. And these traits of humility and thankfulness are not put on, like a suit of clothes, for special occasions. They go right to the core; they come from the heart. This, in other words, is the true worship that God seeks (see John 4:23-24). The Gospel proclaims that God will have such worshippers. The Lord Jesus went to the cross to bear the punishment for the sins of His people, In love He bore the guilt of such sins as stiff-necked pride and hard-hearted ingratitude. The Lord Jesus died so that our sinful selves might die with Him, when we trust in Him as our Saviour, He rose so that we, through faith, may live new lives in Him and come to the Father through Him, In Christ, God's harvest will be gathered in, and He will have what He purposed from the very beginning. With the Lord Jesus - and only through the Lord Jesus - there will be a great multitude who will thank the LORD for all His love eternally. May each of us be part of that great harvest! Set your faith, then, in the Lord Jesus Christ; and, in every day and season that God grants you now, know, love and serve the Lord with a humble, thankful heart.
Print
