Celebration of Harvest 30th Sept 2007
Collect
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 - Deuteronomy 26.1-11
Please join in the Psalm refrain:
I will bless your name forever, my God and King
Second reading - Revelation 14.14-18
14) I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand!
15) Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, ‘Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.’
16) So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17) Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
18) Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Use your sharp sickle
and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.’
The Gospel
Gospel - John 6.25-35
25) When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
26) Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
27) Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’
28) Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’
29) Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’
30) So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?
31) Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’
32) Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33) For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’
34) They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
35) Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’