'ALL Good Gifts around us are sent from heaven above' is the beginning of the chorus of 'We plough the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land...', probably the best loved of all the Harvest Festival hymns. It's the one hymn that you can be sure that will be sung in virtually every Harvest Festival service and in many ways it sums up the underlying sentiment of our Harvest Thanksgiving.
We are mindful that God is the origin and author and source of all that surrounds us. And we praise him for all the goodness and lovingkindness that he shows us in life. And we remember also how he has given us his Son Jesus Christ who, through his death on the cross, may gather us up into the eternal harvest of his heavenly kingdom.
But 'All Good Gifts' is also the title of a paper on the future shape of the Church in Diocese of Ely.
This 'ministry strategy report' has been doing the rounds now for a nearly a year.
'All Good Gifts' was written by a group led by Bishop John Flack, the former Bishop of Huntingdon who has recently taken a new post as the Church of England's presence in Rome. This 'All Good Gifts' seeks to explore how the Church can best serve both God and the community in this area of the country over the next twenty or so years.
I don't doubt that the discussion will run and run and run. But its underlying current asks about the future shape of ministry in the Church as full-time ministers like myself are increasingly seen to be an extravagant luxury, particularly in rural areas like ours.
Our Reader, Geoff Dodgson, is a member of the diocesan working party exploring the implications of 'All Good Gifts'. He (or I) will be happy to hear your comments on these issues. You can find the text of 'All Good Gifts' here on the diocesan website.
John-David Yule