On a wet and windy day, we have just celebrated Harvest Festival and welcomed people back as part of the national 'Back to Church Sunday' (although people are welcome back any other Sunday too, of course!).
Our harvest gifts are going to LEWCAS, a charity which works with asylum seekers, providing them with food and other support. A collection was also taken for WaterAid, which works to provide people with clean drinking water, and the Manna Society which works with the homeless near Waterloo.
Peter preached on today's gospel reading, reminding us to consider the ways our needs are met, and provided us with plenty to think about in his story about 'stone soup'!
Today's Gospel: Matthew 6: 25-33
Jesus said: 'That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you men of little faith? So do not worry, do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed?" It is the pagans who set there hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well.
