St Edburg's Church - Bicester
6 October Harvest
Collect 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.
First Reading Joel 2.21-27
21Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things! 22Do 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.
23O 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. 24The threshing-floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25I 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. 26You 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.
27You 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.
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Psalm Psalm 126
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then were we like those who dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with songs of joy. 3 Then said they among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
4 The Lord has indeed done great things for us, and therefore we rejoiced.
5 Restore again our fortunes, O Lord, as the river beds of the desert.
6 Those who sow in tears shall reap with songs of joy.
7 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed, will come back with shouts of joy, bearing their sheaves with them.
Second Reading
1 Timothy 6.6-10
6There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
Gospel Matthew 6.25-33
Jesus said to his disciples: 25‘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? 26Look 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? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But 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? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’
Post Communion Prayer
Lord of the harvest,
with joy we have offered thanksgiving for your love in creation and have shared in the bread and wine of the kingdom: by your grace plant within us a reverence for all that you give us and make us generous and wise stewards
of the good things we enjoy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Copyright acknowledgement (where not already indicated above):
Collect (Harvest Thanksgiving) © 1989 Church of the Province of Southern Africa: An Anglican Prayer Book. 1 Timothy 6.6-10 © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA. Joel 2.21-27 © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA. Psalm 126 © The Archbishops' Council 2000
Post Communion (Harvest Thanksgiving) © The Archbishops' Council 2010