On Sunday October 30th, Hinde Street held a Harvest Service with special guest Matt Forsyth from All We Can, a Methodist international development & emergency relief organisation to which the collection was dedicated.
We also gathered harvest gifts for Euston Foodbank – the tablecloth on which we laid them out was stylised after the board game ‘Snakes and Ladders’. We evoked this connection because we recognise how easy it is to suddenly find ourselves in a place of need, perhaps where we never thought we would be. People who are winning at ‘Snakes and Ladders’ may think it’s a great game – but if you throw the dice that makes you lose, you suddenly realise how unfair the rules really are. We linked this metaphor with justice – how ‘luck’ and privilege feel fair when you have them.
The Harvest Tree at which we gathered our gifts was bare, and we took this bare tree, and covered it with our prayer for the world – changing it into a thing of fruitfulness, shelter and a place of peace. Everyone in the congregation was invited to add a prayer to a leaf or fruit and add it to the tree as their prayer.
Thanks to everyone for their gifts and their attendance.