All-age church resources and prayers for Harvest www.embraceme.org 31058 Harvest A5 8pp FINAL AW.indd 1 12/04/2018 11:38
Introduction Celebrating Harvest is one of the high points in the church year. As we give thanks to God for the food we eat and for everyone who grows and produces it, let s keep remembering to pray for refugees across the Middle East. Many are struggling to provide food for their hungry families because of ongoing conflict and poverty. But together with our Christian partners, Embrace is reaching out to help them. We hope these resources will help your church celebrate Harvest as the feast of joy and thankfulness that it is. But also that they will provide you with creative ways to encourage your congregation to pray for, and support, Christians in the Middle East who are gathering in some of the most vulnerable people in our world today. We have designed these resources to sit alongside, or incorporate, food collections you may be having for local organisations too. And you ll find more resources including graces and table mats for Harvest suppers, children s colouring sheets and details of our creative collection and fundraising idea, Hampers of Hope at www.embraceme.org/harvest
Nuha s safely gathered in You can read this story out loud in your service and/or include it in a church magazine article or email. Before the war and the drought preceding it, Nuha s nation harvested abundant crops of wheat, sugar beets, barley, cotton and olives. But that was then and this is this is now. Nuha and her children had to flee Syria three years ago when her village was attacked. They made it to Lebanon safely, where harvests are made of potatoes, oranges, apples, grapes and avocados. But Nuha and her children were still on the outside of that. At least at first She was forced to ask for help on the streets. But there she met a kind, elderly man. He said she didn t need to worry because the church would take care of her. And they did. They gave Nuha food, blankets and mattresses. But best of all, she found herself gathered in. She says Without the church, I don t know what would have become of me and my children. I have found community here. No one knows who the old man was. But he had come to equate that church with generosity. Lebanon is hosting more than 1.5 million refugees. In the midst of inevitable strain, many churches are gaining a reputation for being safe places to go and find practical, loving help. They are supported by Embrace s partner, Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD), a national Christian organisation which distributes food vouchers and other resources to help the churches there keep welcoming. And Embrace is supported by the generosity of Christians and churches across the UK This Harvest, could yours be part of gathering in more people like Nuha?
All-age talk idea Gathering in and sharing out You will need: a number of baskets a table several volunteers some items or pictures that illustrate different types of crops information about what is/was grown in your local area your Harvest food collection or some example items that might be useful to give to those in need locally one basket with Hampers of Hope items representing a food parcel for a refugee: oil, pasta, peanut butter, sugar, biscuits, lentils, powdered milk and rice. Ideally: if you are having a Harvest food collection, wait to the gathering point in this talk to bring the items together. But if you need to collect them earlier, or you re not collecting food, simply plant some items with people in the congregation. Begin by asking why we celebrate Harvest. Then draw out the theme of everything being gathered in. Explain it s time to do some gathering! Ask everyone who has food to stand, send out your volunteers with baskets to harvest everything and get them to bring it to the front. (You might like accompany this with a thanksgiving prayer, song and/or blessing.) React to some of the diversity of items. Say how amazingly rich, abundantly generous and varied God s creation is. Talk about your own local area s crops past or present; some of the different kinds of harvests you might find elsewhere in the UK, and other crops that are grown all around the world. (Show the items or pictures you have to illustrate this.)
Say that God s generous gifts are given to all of us, and there s more than enough for everyone. Throughout the Bible, He says it s really important we share all He gives us, especially with those who don t have enough. Explain that some people who were really good at doing this were the first Christians. Read Acts 4:32-37 and unpack how radically generous the early church were. Talk about your church sharing with the people in need in your own community and across the UK and, if you are taking up a food collection or donations, give some information about how this will help the local projects you are supporting. (As you do this, take up one of the full baskets, place it on the table, take items out of it and lay them out around the outside of it.) Ask the congregation to imagine how each one of these might help the person or people who will receive them. Tell Nuha s story. Explain what harvests in Syria used to be like, and what it might be like to leave all the ways you used to grow food and/or make money to buy food behind. (Bring out the Hampers of Hope basket and put it on a table next to the first. Take out the items and place them around the outside of the basket.) Explain how the Lebanese church look like the first Christians, and how the pattern of gathering in and pouring out is shown again and again in them, in LSESD s support of them, in Embrace the Middle East s support of LSESD, and in your own church s support of Embrace the Middle East. Invite everyone to consider what they have that they could share to help gather in more refugees like Nuha and her family. Leave the two emptied out baskets and their corresponding items on display at the front, placing the offering basket beside them too if you also take up a financial collection.
Prayers You can use any or all of the following prayers at different points through your service. A thanks-for-giving prayer Lord of all kinds and colours of harvests, we thank you for giving to us all the food and flavours we enjoy; for juicy fruits, crunchy cereals and nourishing vegetables and for money gathered up in bank accounts to fill our shops, cupboards and fridges with jars, packets and tins. Lord of all kinds and colours of harvests, we thank you for giving us the chance to join in with giving food, flavour and enjoyment to other people too; for collections for our communities homeless, hungry and vulnerable and for Lebanese churches giving Hampers of Hope to refugees, filled with nourishing food and welcome by them, LSESD, Embrace and us. A blessing prayer Father, Creator and sustainer of all, we ask for your blessing today: on all these gifts we ve given for your service and all we still have, which we could give beyond today; on everyone in need in our community and all the opportunities we have to reach out to them; on Nuha, her children and every refugee in Lebanon and all the churches seeking to welcome them there; on LSESD and Embrace the Middle East as they help them and everyone supporting them to gather in each family in need.
A prayer for the Church, inspired by Acts 4:32-37 Lord Jesus, we pray for our church, your Church across the UK, every Lebanese church, and your whole body throughout the Middle East and the wider world; make us more like the early church and more like you ready to lay down all we have at the Father s feet until there is no one in need among us, and you reap the very best harvests through us crops of righteousness and mercy, overflowing lives of abundant generosity, each and all of your children are safely gathered in. Prayers of intercession We suggest making these prayers more engaging for all ages by using a basket, a can of soup, some food associated with the Middle East, a wallet and a clock and involving three volunteers alongside whoever is leading the prayers. But if you want to just use the prayers, ignore the italicised text. The person leading begins, holding the full basket: Generous God, thank you for blessing us this harvest and throughout the year. But we ask you to give us one more thing you know we don t always have. Please give us grateful hearts; hearts which count our blessings; hearts which recognise every good gift comes from you; hearts which want to share what we have been given with those who need to receive it close to home here and in the poorest communities across your world. All: Generous God, as we have received, help us to give. The first volunteer comes up, takes out the can of soup and prays, before returning to their seat with the can.
Generous God, we pray for the people in our community and across the UK who are hungry today. Please fill them up with good, warming food. Bless and give every individual and organisation seeking to help them, everything they need to keep doing so, especially [insert here details of any projects you particularly want to pray for and/or are supporting through your food collection] All: Generous God, as we have received, help us to give. The second volunteer should do as the first, but this time with the Middle-Eastern item: Generous God, we pray for refugees seeking shelter in Lebanon and across the Middle East, whether from Syria, Palestine, Iraq or South Sudan. Please gather them in to their host communities and give them everything they need while they are there. Bless and give every individual and organisation seeking to help them everything they need to keep doing so, especially the Lebanese churches, LSESD and Embrace the Middle East. All: Generous God, as we have received, help us to give. The final volunteer should follow the others examples, but with the wallet and clock: Generous God, we ask that you would take the grateful hearts you ve given us, and the prayers we ve given you, and transform them all into an abundant harvest of generous help for those in need. Answer our prayers, and make us part of the answer too, as we give our time, talents and money to bless and gather others in too here at home and across the Middle East. All: Generous God, as we have received, help us to give. 24 London Road West, Amersham HP7 0EZ 01494 897950 info@embraceme.org www.embraceme.org Registered charity number 1076329. A company limited by guarantee registered in England & Wales number 3706037. Registered office: 24 London Road West, Amersham HP7 0EZ.