27th September 2020

Your weekly newsletter from Yeadon Methodist Church

Dear Friends,

I’m writing this to you on my birthday. May I take this opportunity to thank you for all your good wishes they were appreciated. As I may have mentioned before my birthday treat as a child was to walk along the coastal path and pick the blackberries. That was usually followed by a game of conkers with my brother. We loved playing outside. I think my parents must have loved nature and in particular birds. My brother’s name is Christopher and much to my embarrassment we have always been known as Christopher Robin and Jenny Wren.

September brings my birthday and also a change in the seasons. Some dislike saying goodbye to the summer and the warmer weather. I love the darker evenings and to be honest will go out of my way if I see the chance to step on a crunchy leaf! Usually September also brings Harvest celebrations. This is a time when we spend time thinking about and giving thanks to God for his provisions to us and offering prayers of gratitude to all those who work the fields, the land, and the oceans to provide food.

Our gospel reading is Matthew 13:1-9 and tells us about a sower.

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ² Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³ And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ Let anyone with ears listen!”

I came across a poem by Malcolm Guite and use this poem with his permission:

I love your simple story of the sower,

With all its close attention to the soil,

Its movement from the knowledge to the knower,

Its take on the tenacity of toil.

I feel the fall of seed a sower scatters,

So equally available to all,

Your story takes me straight to all that matters,

Yet understands the reasons why I fall.

Oh, deepen me where I am thin and shallow,

Uproot in me the thistle and the thorn,

Keep far from me that swiftly snatching shadow,

That seizes on your seed to mock and scorn.

O break me open, Jesus, set me free,

Then find and keep your own good ground in me.

As we celebrate harvest 2020 the world may seem a vastly different place from past years. However, God still wants us to work with him to ensure that all are fed and cared for. This week there is an opportunity to join in with a zoom harvest service. Then on the 4^th of October Pauline Tate will be leading a harvest service in the Church. Our collections this year are to be divided between Caring for Life and All We Can. Offerings can be made for these at the service on the 4^thOctober.

I hope you are able to enjoy the change of seasons and I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Every blessing, Jenny

A reminder that you're very welcome to join today's Harvest Zoom Service. The meeting ID is: 986 3972 2958, or just click on https://zoom.us/j/98639722958 ☏ 0131 460 1196

Next week:  please bring your harvest donation for Caring for Life and All We Can to the harvest service in church on Sunday 4th October