Harvest Thanksgiving

Lake County Mail, Issue 40, 10 March 1948, Page 8

Harvest Thanksgiving

About this, time in every, year most churches have what is called Harvest Thanksgiving, when the churches arc' decorated with tokens of gifts of the fruits of the earth to remind us that all good things come from God. Such an occasion should direct our thoughts Godwards, for it is not "to be a competitive show to see who can grow the largest pumpkin or the reddest apple, or the most prolific crop of wheat. It is an annual event derived from the Jewish custom and the laws of God given to them when they -were brought out of the captivity in Egypt. Each year they were to set apart a day of thanksgiving for the good things they were enjoying in the land of plenty to which they had been brought. They were warned that the temptation would be acute to forget God and to think that they had done everything by the might and power of their own hands. This animal festival of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth would set the tone for their whole year’s living, which should he one ot thanksgiving to Almighty God. When our y Lord was in the wilderness prior to His public ministry, Satan tempted Him to try and win the world to His cause by supplying them with food, hut Christ rejected this temptation with a quotation from Scripture. “Man doth not live by bread alone.” The Israelites were warned that they Would he tempted v illi the thought that they had won peace in the promised land by their own might and . power, that the plenty was due to their own efforts. We in New Zealand are subject to a similar temptation, that we are in this land and have plenty to eat because of our own might and power. We forget how nearly we were invaded —our memories are short —we like to forget how much we owe our kith and kin on the other side of the world. We have come from the war years feeling very good and very proud of ourselves, when leally we should be grateful to Almighty God for our deliverance. What proof have I for these statements'; Just this, how (ew pared ■ go Home to great Britain from our district? How poor is the response to appeals by Corso or any other organisation to relieve starting Europe! And how small are the attendances in church. We ought to he eternally grateful to Almighty God —perhaps we are. hut we do not show if ! Harvest Thanksgiving—let it remind us of God. If someone comes round and asks for something as a . harvest offering, what are you going to give? Anything or ing? The best that you have or the least that you can give and still hold up your head? Let our gifts he tokens ... let them he tin* best of their kind, for thet should signify our desire to give all that we have and all that we are to Almighty God. What happens to them? Me see them in church, and what then? (Sometimes they are sold for parish (inanees. hut iii most Anglican churches, at any rate, the goods, or the money derived from the sale of them, is sent to those in poorer circumstances than ourselves; for example, to the orphanages or as food parcels to Great Britain. Man does not live by bread alone. It is the spirit that matters, the spjrit of our giving to God. Lot us thank God'for His kindness and generosity to us in this laud of ours, and let our 'Thanksgiving make us think more of the Giver and less of ourselves. Philip C. Williams.

Slump in the Skeleton Trade

Since the war there has apparently been a bad slump in the skeleton trade, and ait schools and hospitals arc clamouring tor skeletons, well articulated and in good condition. Lester Powell wonders if we will one day see a poster saying: “ Hurry up and die and help the Export Drive.” At -one time Britain led the world in the skeleton trade, but now there are very few British skeletons hanging from hooks in lecture rooms or hidden away in cupboards. The situation is so bad that dealers are seriously considering a plan to make a plastic model articulated with brass springs and catgut. But it is felt that the complex mechanism of the vertebrae might be too difficult to reproduce.