All friends and neighbours are warmly invited to our late September Harvest Festival Weekend, traditionally a time of thanksgiving for the harvest.

More recently, however, this season has also become a time to deepen our ecological understanding and to commit ourselves in practical ways to creation care.

On Saturday, 26 September, a craft fair and cafè will be held in the church hall from 10.00am to 2.00pm, with a car boot sale outside. This event offers us a way to meet our neighbours, buy locally-made crafts, and share our household belongings with others to whom they might give pleasure or be useful!

The church building itself is traditionally decorated for the Harvest Festival. During the fair, the church building will be open, and all are welcome to wander in and look around, or to stay for a few minutes of quiet reflection.
On Sunday, our Service of Harvest Thanksgiving will be held at 11.00am, and again, visitors are most welcome. The service will be designed to enable the participation of people of all ages, including children. The service will last about 45 minutes and will be followed by refreshments.

On Sunday afternoon, the church building will again be open, and visitors will be welcomed with hot mulled apple cider if the weather is chilly!

Prayer cards will be available on both days, if you wish to use them to guide your reflections. There will also be information available in the church porch on creation care, practical responses to climate change, and the inter-church eco-congregation movement.

The day will finish with an evening service, whose theme will also be thanksgiving for the harvest, but which will have a more reflective style. The evening service will also be followed by light refreshments.

If you have any questions about the craft fair and car boot sale, please ring Mr James Bailie, at 086 851 9745, or if you have any questions about the two services, you are welcome to ring the minister of the congregation, Rev Katherine P Meyer, at 219 5725. We hope to see you there!

The Harvest Festival Weekend takes place 26–27 September 2009 at Christ Church on Sandymount Green

Above: Damien Wall, Kathrine P Meyer and Kira Wall.