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Ideas for harvest

New ideas for 2017

Informal talk

Fed and watered

Over two hundred years ago, in the days long before there were large seed drills and combine harvesters, a song was written to celebrate the harvest. It is still well-known today; it starts with the words: 'We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land'.

What can we tell from those words? How was the seed sown? The words suggest the seed – or at least some of it – was sown by throwing it by hand (you could demonstrate this action) after the field had been prepared with a horse-drawn plough. When it came to harvest time the same horses would pull the reaper or cutter ready for the crop to be gathered in.

But what happens in the next line of the song hasn't changed. Can anyone remember the next line? What happens next (it may be helpful to sing the first line as a prompt, stopping at the word ‘but’).

The answer, of course, is: 'But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand'. Once the seed is sown, we rely on the sun and the rain and the nutrients in the soil – everything that comes from creation. In fact, we rely on these things for all of our food – even that which comes in tins and bags and bottles.

Active worship

Harvest shuffle

Prepare seven A4 cards, each printed with a letter of the word ‘HARVEST’ – make the letters as large as possible. You will need seven people to hold them up.

It may be helpful to rehearse this presentation – using the script below – although there is also fun to be had in letting volunteers work it out for themselves.

The card holders stand at the front, facing the congregation. Begin with the cards in the correct order to spell ‘HARVEST’. As each of the highlighted words is said, pause and let those with the relevant letters shuffle round to form the word. Those with letters not in the word should lower their cards.

Script

We begin with our HARVEST.

Because of our harvest we HAVE food to EAT for our TEA (and all our other meals!).

From EAST to VEST (encourage a groan!) over all the EARTH,
people’s HARVESTs come at different times of the year.

Unfortunately, harvests are not always good. Sometimes they fail.

Maybe too much HEAT or too many TARES - an old word for weeds.

When this happens it ends in TEARS and people can even STARVE.

Some people have more than they need, while others do not have enough to EAT.

There is a word which can help with this.

Can you work out what it is?

(Invite people to suggest an answer that can be spelt from the letters in front of them.)

How about: SHARE?

This is one way in which we can celebrate the harvest – by sharing what we have (which may be more than we need) with our neighbours and those in real need. How might we do that?

(Invite people to suggest practical ideas.)

Harvest words

Give out paper and coloured pens or pencils. Invite people to see how many words they can make out of the letters of the word ‘HARVEST’. If older children and adults write these down in ‘balloon’ or outline letters, younger children could be invited to colour them, and together you could make a large and colourful ‘harvest’ word display.