Good day,

It is a lovely summer…er…I mean, autumn day. 

Coming Up:

I’ve received word that the next Guild of St. Joseph Men’s Breakfast is this Saturday, October 7, 8:30am at the Trinity Centre on Northern Road in Sault Ste Marie. Note: this is a change from what I told you last week.

Also on the horizon is the retirement luncheon for Dean Jim McShane. The lunch is at the Bushplane Museum on October 15, tickets $40. Deadline to buy tickets is this Friday the 6th. Call or email the cathedral for more info and for tickets. The contact information is on the attached poster below.

A Liturgical Note For You:  Harvest Thanksgiving is coming up this Sunday, October 8 so…

Harvest Thanksgiving: Monday, October 9 is the secular Thanksgiving Day holiday. For many people, the Sunday is the better day to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families and enjoy a big meal together. This is also the Sunday that our church provides the option of acknowledging Thanksgiving. We call the Sunday “Harvest Thanksgiving”.  There are readings provided for the day but, if following the lectionary is important to you and your congregation, you can keep the lectionary readings and acknowledge Harvest Thanksgiving in the Intercessions as well as by singing some great harvest hymns.

Worship services in thanksgiving for harvests have a long history, beginning in ancient times with a couple of festivals mentioned in Scripture – there is the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Ingathering (check out Exodus 23:16, for example). Over the centuries, various countries have called for national “Thanksgiving Days” for a variety of reasons – at the end of conflict, when a widespread sickness finally abated, and when there is an especially plentiful harvest. Harvest Thanksgiving as we know it is a very recent addition to our worship. The first church to make the Harvest Thanksgiving an annual service is believed to be the church of St. Mary and St. Giles at Buckerell, near Honiton in Devon, England. The Rev. Edwin Coleridge, held a Harvest Thanksgiving at Buckerell on Friday, 14 October 1840, and then held one every year when the parish church was decorated with fruits of the harvest.  The first Harvest Thanksgiving on a Sunday is thought to have been Sunday, October 1,1843 in Cornwall, England. The Rev. Robert Hawker of Morwenstow invited all of his parishioners to a special Sunday service to share communion bread made from newly harvested corn. Having freshly made bread created from the fruits of the harvest is a wonderful tradition to begin in your church if you normally use wafers on the other Sundays.

By the way, the word “harvest” is the Anglo-Saxon word “haerfest” (Autumn) and refers to the season of reaping and gathering.  

You’ll notice below that St. Francis of Assisi is the only memorial on our calendar of observances this week. I’m sure you know, but I’ll remind you anyway, that good ol’ St. Francis does NOT get transferred to a Sunday. If you’d like to bless some animals, your worship service in which you would do so is on the Wednesday.  

For Your Devotions:

Wednesday, October 4th is the memorial of Francis of Assisi, a friar who died in 1226. Francis gave up a life of luxury (you must read about him throwing money out a window and standing naked in front of his astonished father and Bishop) to found the Franciscan Order as well as The Poor Clares for women. To think of Francis only as an animal lover is to do him a serious injustice. His goal in life was to become like Christ by conforming completely in mind and heart to the teachings of Jesus (and remember, this is what Paul tells us that all of us must do [Philippians 2:4-5]). After experiencing a vision of a crucified seraph, witnesses say Francis was marked by the five wounds of the crucified Christ. Apparently, this was the first recorded case of stigmata. To read about this and the other fascinating details of his life, please go here:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Francis-of-Assisi

In the joy of Christ,

Susan