Sunday 13th October 2024		       The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity

11.00am – Morning Prayer – page 84 (Large print page 20)
7.00pm – A Festival of Hymns and Readings for Harvest

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest-home

Hymn 37 Come, ye thankful people, come

Morning Prayer – page 84 (20)

Canticle: The Song of the Three 1-6, 13-14 – page 123 (60)

The Bringing Forward of Symbols of the Harvest
Let us bring forward symbols of the harvest, gifts that God has created and his sun and rain have nurtured.
Thanks be to God.
Bring forward the harvest of the cornfields, the oats and the wheat, the rye and the barley.
Thanks be to God.
Bring forward the harvest of roots, the swedes and mangolds, turnips and sugar beet.
Thanks be to God.
Bring forward the harvest of seeds for next year’s crops, for clover, for hay and for corn.
Thanks be to God.
Bring forward the harvest of vegetables, peas, potatoes, beans and hops.
Thanks be to God.
Bring forward the harvest of pears and apples, berries and herbs.
Thanks be to God.
Bring forward the harvest of flowers, the finest blooms from our gardens and our fields.
Thanks be to God.
Bring forward the grain and the grape, for our Saviour took bread and wine to feed us with his body and his blood, given and shed for the life of the world. Let us feed on him by faith with thanksgiving.
Thanks be to God.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
praise him, all creatures here below,
praise him above, ye heavenly host,
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

Hymn 38 Father, blessing every seed

The Lesson: Joel 2:21-27
Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!
Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield. O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing-floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

The Psalm: 150
1 O praise God in his holiness: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him in his noble acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him in the sound of the trumpet: praise him upon the lute and harp.
4 Praise him in the timbrels and dances: praise him upon the strings and pipe.
5 Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals: praise him upon the loud cymbals.
6 Let every thing that hath breath: praise the Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For
there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Choir Anthem - For the beauty of the earth by John Rutter

The Gospel: Matthew 6:25-33
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The Apostles’ Creed - page 95 (31)

The Collect - page 296 (208)
Almighty God,
whose Holy Spirit equips your Church with a rich variety of gifts:
Grant us so to use them that, living the gospel of Christ
and eager to do your will,
we may share with the whole creation in the joys of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect of Harvest Thanksgiving
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

The Collects of Morning Prayer - page 96 (32)

The Prayers

A General Thanksgiving - page 99 (36)

Hymn 42 Good is the Lord

The Sermon - The Rt Rev Adrian Wilkinson

Offertory Hymn 43 Holy is the seed-time

The Blessing
May God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who is the source of all goodness and growth, 
pour his blessing upon all things created, 
and upon you his children, 
that you may use his gifts to his glory 
and the welfare of all peoples; 
and the blessing …

Hymn 32 O Lord my God