Dear Brothers and Sisters
I was disappointed, but not really surprised, when I heard that Masham Sheep Fair was cancelled for this year. Over the past months we have become used to events being cancelled but there is still a sense of disappointment when something that we enjoy is cancelled or postponed. This Sunday would have been Open Farm Sunday when farms all over the country were planning to host events for the public to find out more about how their food is produced. Clearly this is something else that cannot happen this year but the event is going online and international. You may think that you know as much as you need to know about sheep but this year you can visit, among other places, a pineapple farm in Ghana or a rice farm in Spain. Visit the farmsunday.org website to see what else is happening.
We will be celebrating Harvest Thanksgiving in our churches on the first two Sundays of October. These won’t be our usual celebrations; no harvest hymns or suppers but we will give thanks to God for the Harvest, in this most challenging of years. All through this pandemic we have given thanks for all those key workers who have kept our country going. All through this time our Farming community has got on with the job of producing good food for us, just as they always do. So the theme of this year’s Harvest Thanksgiving is to thank our Farmers, for all they have done this year, and every year. I’ve attached a poster to this mailing so that you can put a Harvest Thankyou in your window, if you would like to.
Sunday’s Readings
A Reading from the book of Jonah
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’ But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough to die.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’ (3:10-4:11)
The Gospel according to Matthew
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’ (20:1-16)
Services next Sunday 27th September
- Weston 9.30am
- Leathley 11am
- Fewston 2.30pm
Services for Sunday 4th October
- Farnley 9.30am
- Denton 11am
- Blubberhouses 2.30pm.
Annual Parochial Church Meetings: 20th September Farnley, 27th September Fewston, 18th October Denton and 25th October Leathley. Electoral Roll lists will be revised prior to these meetings. Please make sure you are on the appropriate roll.
Please remember in your prayers: Those starting University this week. The people of Syria, and all whose lives are being destroyed by conflict. Our public health workers and all battling Covid19. Those facing further restrictions on their lives. Our Government and all who have hard decisions to make this week. The sick and the dying and those who care for and love them.
God bless you all.
Stephen