Parishes by the Wall - Living Faith on the Frontier

The church at Henshaw was beautifully decorated in preparation for our Joint Harvest Service last Sunday morning, creating a colourful and welcoming sight. As parishioners arrived with contributions for the Food Bank, (where donations from the service were to be taken,) there was a major sorting exercise taking place in the Parish Room, so that the gifts of the harvest could be brought to the altar by the children in large baskets. These represented the cereals, the roots, the seeds, the vegetables, the fruits and the harvest of flowers. Our reading from Luke’s Gospel reminded us to consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. The Vicar drew on themes of abundance in his address, and helped by the children, showed the congregation just how the jam and scones had been made at the last meeting of God’s Tent. Our hymns included Come ye thankful people, come, Autumn Days when the grass is jewelled, and of course, We plough the fields and scatter. Because the weather was kind to us, we could serve coffee and biscuits both in the Parish Room but also outside – and were thus able to cater for a large congregation.