Harvest Services at Donemana Presbyterian Church

The church was decorated beautifully with a colourful array of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Even our PowerPoint displayed original photographs of bringing in the harvest in England, which had been taken by Matthew Craig last year. The choir with their special harvest anthems had been trained and accompanied by Mrs Linda Kennedy-McNeill on the organ.

Rev Dr Stewart Jones led the morning service.

Following the minister’s welcome to the congregation and after the opening prayer and hymn, the choir sang “A Song of Thanksgiving”, with a solo in the second verse sung beautifully by Lorraine Smyth.

For the children’s address, Rev Dr Stewart Jones explained that it can take a long time for plants to blossom, even with a lot of care, and that we are all works in progress with God’s care.

The readings on which the sermon was based came from wise sayings from Proverbs ch. 24 v 27 -34 and ‘The Parable of the Rich Fool’ from Luke ch. 12 v 13 -21.

The choir sang ‘Gather the Reapers Home’, a lively fast moving piece in which Rachel McCombe sweetly sang a solo in verse 2 and a small group sang verse 3.

During the offering Judith Allen, on her flute, accompanied Linda on the organ with a beautiful rendition of the piece, ‘I, the Lord of Sea and Sky’.

Gary Boyd, Leslie Craig, Mark Hamilton, Albert Hall, Alan Connor and Hall Nelson collected the offering. Rev Dr Stewart Jones thanked all who collected the offering throughout the year in his prayer of thanks.

Rev Dr Stewart Jones preached his sermon on the rich fool, focusing our minds on getting our priorities right regarding God and our possessions, in accordance with God’s Word.

The choice of congregational hymns at the morning service included ‘Come, you thankful people, come’, ‘God whose farm is all creation’, ‘Like a mighty river flowing’, and ‘Fountain of mercy, God of love’.

The visiting speaker at our evening service was Rev Alistair Rosborough. The choir began the service with an Introit, ‘A Hymn of Thanks’. After the welcome and a prayer, the opening congregational hymn was ‘We plough the fields and scatter’.

The choir sang the anthem, ‘Sharing the Harvest’ and Hilary Boyd sweetly sang her solo in verse 2.

As in the morning, during the evening offering Judith on the flute proficiently accompanied Linda on the organ with the beautiful harvest piece, ‘You’ll reap whatsoever you sow’. Edmund Gordon, Christopher Holden, David Smyth and Ross Smyth collected the offering.

After the hymn, ‘Lord of the harvest’, the choir sang their final harvest anthem, ‘With thankful hearts we come’ with Lorraine Smyth beautifully singing verse 1 and Rachel McCombe singing verse 2 with emotion.

Rev Rosborough read portions of scripture during the service, taken from Proverbs chapter 3 v 7 – 12, and Romans chapter 8 v 31 – 39 on God’s Everlasting Love and based his sermon on the subject of honouring the Lord and that God in His everlasting love will keep us.

The evening congregational hymns included, ‘It takes an almighty hand to make your harvest grow’, and the service finished with the hymn, ‘We thank you, Lord, for all your gifts’.

Both services were brought to a close with the benediction.