Autumn 1 - Week 6
Monday 12th October
Good Morning Cathedral School,
It is Mrs Scott here with you this morning. I hope you had a good weekend.
Harvest Around the World
At the moment we are thinking about Harvest Festival.
Today we will focus on how people celebrate Harvest Festival around the world.
Please read the presentation below.
Harvest Around the World.pptxWhat is the same about the way Harvest is celebrated in different countries?
If you have any experience of how Harvest is celebrated around the world, please tell you class - I know they would be interested to hear what you have to say.
Harvest
Thank you to everyone who has brought in a donation for the foodbank.
Here's a list of some items the volunteers at the foodbank have asked for:
- Tinned meat
- Tinned fish
- Tinned vegetables and pulses
- Biscuits
- Jam/other non-perishable spreads
- Long life fruit juice/squash
Please leave your donations on the table opposite the Nurture Room. Please do not touch anyone else's donations.
Reflection Time
At this time of year Christians often thank God for the beauty of the natural world.
Listen to this hymn and reflect on the beauty of autumn and harvest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9mvrkQbzgc
We often sing this hymn in Collective Worship - although it is tempting to sing along, please save your voices for your music lesson. We will sing it altogether as soon as we can.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for giving us enough food to eat.
Please look after those in our community and across the world who are hungry.
Amen.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
Tuesday 13th October
Good Morning Cathedral School. Today we are going to think about harvest and what it might mean in our own lives.
Can you estimate how old this tree is?
Answer
The tree is estimated to be between 2,000 and 3,000 years old. In fact, it is believed to be the oldest tree in the UK. It is a yew tree and, over the years, its trunk has split into several parts, so it no longer looks like a single tree but many. It can be found in a churchyard in the village of Fortingall in Perthshire, Scotland, and is so large that processions are said to have passed through the arch formed by its split trunk in years gone by.
Because this tree is at least 2,000 years old, it is likely that it was already growing at the time of Jesus. It is hard to believe that this huge, ancient tree began from a single, small seed like these.
I wonder who planted the seed that grew into the tree that we see today?
Perhaps it germinated naturally, or perhaps someone planted it in their garden. However the seed got into the ground, through the years, over many centuries, there will have been individuals who tended to the tree, who chose to incorporate it into the churchyard and who ensured that it carried on thriving. Most of these people are not alive now to see the tree as it is today, to see the fruits of their labours.
Of course, some seeds that we plant grow more quickly. Many crops, such as carrots and beans, take less than a year to go from seed-planting to harvest.
Carrots grow in a matter of months, but it still requires work and effort to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, water them regularly, keep competing weeds at bay and eventually harvest them. There is something very satisfying about tasting produce that we have grown ourselves.
At this time of year, many schools and churches are celebrating harvest, which is the time of the year when lots of crops are ready to be picked and eaten.
Harvest festivals and celebrations have been part of the UK calendar for a long time. In days gone by, gathering the harvest was hard, physical work and needed to be done quickly, before the cold, wet weather set in. At harvest time, lots of help was needed to gather the crops, and harvest festival was a time to celebrate the food that had been grown on the land. The community came together to gather the crop, and then celebrated bringing it in by holding a generous feast called a harvest supper. The centrepiece of the table would be a goose stuffed with apples and served with vegetables. It was a time of plenty, with good food for all to enjoy!
It wasn’t until Victorian times that churches in the UK began to hold harvest festival services. These involved prayers of thanks being offered and hymns celebrating the provision of the harvest being sung. Then and now, churches are often decorated with home-grown produce for the harvest festival service.
Nowadays, a lot of our food is mass-produced and few of us are involved in gathering in the harvest each year. The food that we eat regularly is more likely to have come to our plate via a supermarket, a lorry or plane and a factory to process the crop.
However, let’s pause to consider the idea of sowing seeds and seeing the results at harvest as an analogy. It can be an analogy for the hard work that we devote to our daily activities.
Some of the things that we do will bear fruit; they will produce results. However, it may take years before the results are evident. In fact, it may not even happen in our lifetime – a bit like the yew tree that is over 2,000 years old. It can be hard to trust that the kindness we show to someone, the conversation we have or the work we do now might one day in the future produce positive results.
Reflection Time
Today we are going to listen to 'We Plough the Fields and Scatter' again. As you listen, think about something positve you will do today that will produce 'fruit'.
This version is recorded in a church; the organ plays and the congregation sing. Please read the words silently in your head and reflect on them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccVEjKFkAV4
Dear God,
Thank you for the food that you provide for us.
As we celebrate this time of harvest, we thank you for the ways in which our lives are producing fruits.
We think about our positive achievements and the ways in which we show kindness and compassion to others.
We pray that we will be full of gratitude to celebrate our own and others’ positive achievements.
We also pray that you will guide us and sustain us with hope that our lives can make a difference and produce fruits worthy of celebration.
Amen.
Wednesday 14th October
Good Morning Cathedral School.
I hope you are learning some new things about autumn and harvest and that you have had the chance to reflect on the importance of Harvest Festival.
Please have a go at one of the harvest quizzes below.
Harvest Quiz.pptEYFS and KS1
Harvest Quiz KS2.pptKS2
How did you get on with your quiz? Some of the questions were a bit tricky!
Yesterday we thought about how we sow seeds, in terms of how we behave, treat others and live our lives. These seeds bear fruit, in the same way that planting an apple seed will eventually lead to an apple tree with wonderful fruit. This can take many years.
Although times have changed in terms of how crops are harvested, there is something important about stopping every year to appreciate the results of the previous years and the ways in which God has provided for us. If we do not do so, we may never have the courage to hope that some of the seeds that we plant today may have long-lasting results.
Let's take a minute to think about the Fruits of Friendship with God.
What fruit do you grow on your tree?
Reflection Time
Let us consider the seeds that we will plant this week: the actions that we will engage in and the relationships that we will nurture OR you could just enjoy the beautiful music.
Today we are listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo singing Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain.
This choir come from South Africa. Why do you think they are so thankful for the rain?
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the food that you provide for us.
As we celebrate this time of harvest, we thank you for the ways in which our lives are producing fruits.
We think about our positive achievements and the ways in which we show kindness and compassion to others.
We pray that we will be full of gratitude to celebrate our own and others’ positive achievements.
We also pray that you will guide us and sustain us with hope that our lives can make a difference and produce fruits worthy of celebration.
Amen.
Thursday 15th October
Good morning, it’s Father David here with you today.
This term, we’re thinking about how Jesus helps his friends.
Luke 22. 7-38
The Day of Unleavened Bread came. This was the day the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed. Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
They asked, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”
Jesus said to them, “Listen! After you go into the city, you will see a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house that he enters. Tell the person who owns that house, ‘The Teacher asks that you please show us the room where he and his followers may eat the Passover meal.’ Then he will show you a large room upstairs. This room is ready for you. Prepare the Passover meal there.”
So Peter and John left. Everything happened as Jesus had said. So they prepared the Passover meal.
When the time came, Jesus and the apostles were sitting at the table. He said to them, “I wanted very much to eat this Passover meal with you before I die. I will never eat another Passover meal until it is given its true meaning in the kingdom of God.”
Then Jesus took a cup. He gave thanks to God for it and said, “Take this cup and give it to everyone here. I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until God’s kingdom comes.”
Then Jesus took some bread. He thanked God for it, broke it, and gave it to the apostles. Then Jesus said, “This bread is my body that I am giving for you. Do this to remember me.” In the same way, after supper, Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup shows the new agreement that God makes with his people. This new agreement begins with my blood which is poured out for you.”
Jesus said, “One of you will turn against me. His hand is by my hand on the table. The Son of Man will do what God has planned. But how terrible it will be for that man who gives the Son of Man to be killed.”
Food
I wonder if any of you can think of your favourite thing to eat? Our favourite food is very special to us, it makes us feel lost of special things. I wonder if you can think of some of the emotions, or feelings, you get when you eat your favourite food?
I’ll tell you some of mine - I feel loved, and cared about, and comforted. Quite often it makes me think of my mum and dad, because they used to make my favourite food for me when I was your age!
Food is an amazing thing because it can make us feel special and loved, so I don’t think it is very surprising that in our Bible story today, Jesus uses food to show his friends that he loves them, and wants them to feel comforted.
Our story tells us about a very special, and difficult time for Jesus and his friends. It is set the night before he died, so the meal he shares with them is the last meal before he dies. That must be a very special meal, and if you have a special meal, you should try and give your friends the nicest food you possibly can. In our story, Jesus gives his friends bread and tells them that it is his body. This might seem quite strange to us, and not very nice at all - but we can think of it as Jesus giving absolutely all of his love to his friends, in a piece of bread.
That is what Jesus’ cooks for his final meal - he gives his friends all of his love.
And the story we’ve read today reminds us that we, as Christians, should try and do what Jesus does. We should try to give all of our love to our friends. Sadly, in the world, many people still go hungry today because they don’t have enough food to eat, and so even a simple bit of bread if it is given with all of our love can make a difference. It can make a different to our friends, and to strangers, because sometimes we don’t know who is hungry, or who has enough to eat.
As we think about this story, we should ask ourselves how we can give all of our love to our friends, and to people we don’t know. And we should think too about how we can share the food we have with others who are hungry, both those we know who are hungry, and those whose hunger isn’t very obvious. And we should share what we have, with all of our love.
Reflection Time
During this time we will listen to John Rutter’s song, The Lord Bless You and Keep You. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcYzO8Y4PH0
There are lots of confusing things in our world, lots of things that we will have questions about. While we try and make sense of them, God is always there with us and is always patient with us (like Jesus was with Nicodemus), even when we’re finding things difficult to understand.
Prayer
Please choose a prayer from your prayer box to share together.
Friday 16th October
Good Morning Cathedral School. It is Mrs Scott here with you this morning. Happy Friday!
Celebration Assembly
Congratulations to everyone who has really worked hard on their handwriting over the last few weeks. It has been wonderful to see your great work.
Cathedral School Celebrations
Please look at the Class Blogs to find out who we are celebrating this week.
https://www.cathedralprimaryschool.com
Reflection Time
Today we are going to listen to another Cathedral School favourite, Shine Jesus Shine. The lyrics are displayed and I know it is very tempting to sing - instead, think about which instruments are playing. The video is filmed at The Royal Albert Hall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4hXJ9ax2FY
Prayers
Please use a prayer from your class Prayer Box or perhaps someone would like to share a prayer.
I hope you have a great weekend.