01.10.2024
Harvest Thanksgiving Marks 10th Anniversary of Newcastle Parish Centre
Parishioners of Newcastle and Newtownmountkennedy with Calary had two reasons to celebrate last Friday night (September 27). They gathered in Newcastle Church for a united Harvest Thanksgiving and they also took the opportunity to mark the 10th anniversary to the day of the opening of the parish centre.
Archbishop Michael Jackson preached at the service and afterwards rededicated the parish centre along with a bench in memory of Mervyn Garrett who played a leading role in creating the centre.
Drawing on the reading [Deuteronomy 8: 1–10] the Archbishop said that the words of Moses formed the backdrop to the celebration of harvest, both in Newcastle and in churches across the Church of Ireland, encouraging gratitude to God.
He noted that for many the celebration of harvest may be less immediate or tangible than it was generations ago or is for those living in the suburbs. Suggesting an alternative way of looking at the celebration he said that farming and agriculture had become more diverse and complex with the skills needed to navigate them becoming more broad ranging.
“As import and export both play their part in the harvesting of creation worldwide, the questions asked of us broaden in terms of ecological responsibility. Farming and agriculture draw in a very wide range of skills and those who farm the land and farm the sea find themselves caught fair and square in an ecological conversation that few would have predicted in an earlier generation. Farming is newly–complex as well as being oldly–difficult. Weather is always weather – unpredictable, sporadic, opportunistic and unreliable yet sometimes glorious. Anyone who brings in a harvest will readily tell you that doing so is an annual miracle. The politics of agriculture is another matter entirely. We believe that it is God who provides,” he said.
Archbishop Jackson said that another type of harvest had drawn parishioners together – the harvest and thanksgiving for work completed. He congratulated the parish on their harvest of skill, generosity and vision.
He recalled the parish’s imaginative scheme, encouraged by the then rector, the Revd William Bennett, which saw the existing rectory adapted and developed into a multi–function parish centre. A new rectory was built in the Glebe field. “This is the initiative and this is the use that we celebrate this evening and that we consolidate as these developments move into their second decade alongside a parish church steeped in history and association and resonance for the community of Newcastle and for the Parishes of Newcastle, Newtownmountkennedy and Calary. To everyone both in times past and in times now I say: Well done! and: Thank you,” he commented.
You can read the Archbishop’s sermon in full here.
