ST GILES’ CHURCH ICKENHAM
4 October 2015 – Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
HARVEST FESTIVAL
8.00am HOLY COMMUNION
Welcome to our communion service today. If you are visiting for the first time,
please introduce yourself to one of the clergy or one of the welcome team. If
you are baptised and receive Holy Communion in your own church, you are
very welcome to take communion with us. If you would like to receive a prayer
of blessing instead please come to the altar rail keeping your hands by your
side.
A large print version of this sheet is available from the centre of the church.
Hymn – A&M 289 Come, ye thankful people come
Collect for 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.
Old Testament Reading – Joel 2.21-24 (p.914 in the Bibles)
Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice.
Surely the LORD has done great things.
Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig-tree and the vine yield their riches.
Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
The threshing-floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
New Testament Reading – 1 Timothy 6.6-10 (p.1194 in the Bibles)
Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the
world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we
will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a
trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and
destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with
many griefs.
Gospel Reading – Luke 8.4-15 (p.1037 in the Bibles)
While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from
town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he
was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the
birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants
withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which
grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came
up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of
the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak
in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along
the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the
word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on
the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they
have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on
their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do
not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good
heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”
Hymn – A&M 457 For the fruits of his creation
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.
Hymn - A&M 288 Praise, O praise our God and King
Please feel free to take this sheet away with you.