Thanksgiving / Harvest Home

Thanksgiving/ Harvest Home   

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

View this version on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWu_kQUdef4

In England when I was growing up we did not celebrate Thanksgiving .

However every Autumn we celebrated Harvest Home at the Methodist church I attended .

This was a very special Sunday service when everyone was asked to bring some food to be blessed. All the little kids from Sunday school were told to get their mums to give them some fruit or veggies, pies or tin cans to help for the display. These would be brought into the church and the church ladies would arrange them very decoratively and tastefully all over large tables at the front of the church by the altar.

Now you have to remember I grew up during world war 2 and food had been in very short supply and still was to some extent so it always made us all astonished to see the huge and colorful display at the front of the church. I can still remember the magnificent displays of colors and all kinds of shapes just incredible.

We always had a very special service on that day. The kids all had practiced special hymns to sing, the sermon was about the beauty of the harvest and God's goodness to us all and we all were encouraged to think and give thanks for all His blessings.

So I guess Thanksgiving and Harvest Home are very similar in nature.