Good evening friends,

I hope your week is unfolding well and you are getting the balance right between work and leisure?

I’ve tried very hard this week to not let my desk and administrative load get in the way of the stuff that is more traditionally thought of as ministry. Now there are of course administrative tasks that fall into ministry – service preparation, correspondence to do with pastoral work and churches. But it’s not those parts I’m thinking of – what I’ve been doing is thinking to myself “how does this benefit God’s purpose for us” or “how does this draw us all closer into God’s loving embrace”, and if I can’t really see the answer, then I’ve been doing the task, but I haven’t given it more time than the minimum. If the answer is that the thing in my diary clearly is working for God’s kingdom then I’ve gone for it with all my energy and hope! Sometimes we need to remember what church and being people of faith is all about, don’t we?

There isn’t too much to share with you this week in terms of activities or events, but please do find attached a poster with all the Harvest services on it. You are of course encouraged to advertise your own services in a bespoke poster for just that occasion. In order to not overcrowd my poster it is literally just the services.

It would be great if you could advertise locally, letting people know that you are collecting donations, and telling them what the cause is (foodbank, pantry, cash for a charity etc.) Also let them know of any meal that you might be organising (if indeed you are). Harvest is one of the bigger festivals in our year and it would be good to see us do it well across all our churches.

If you would like help with harvest posters, please just let me know, giving me the details you would like to publicise, and I’ll get something back to you within a couple of days.

Do you know? I think I’m going to leave it there for this week. However, you know where I am if you need anything and please be assured of my prayers. If I can pray for something specific please don’t hesitate to ask.

With my love,

Sally xxx