The gospel readings at this time of year focus on Jesus' teaching, healing and miracles. We meet the Jesus of the every day, the Jesus of farmers and fisherman, who told stories of lost sheep, a man beat up by the roadside, a ponsy landowner, fishers of men, seed sown by the wayside, or, as in today's gospel where Jesus tells the story of a vineyard owner with two sons; one of whom said he would work in the vineyard but in the end he didn't, and the other who refused to go but changed his mind and went - an every day world that became a canvas for the Holy Spirit. Here was God, not in far off Jerusalem, but walking every day through the fields, and along the shores, of Galilee.

St George’s Church will be holding a Pet Blessing Service this year as part of our 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi on 3 October 1226.

This service, which will form part of our celebration of the Season of Creation, will include a personal blessing for each pet, as well as their owners, plus prayers and hymns that are appropriate for the season.

Any pet is welcome - including cats - as long as they are under control. And if your pet is unable to come, or deceased, do please come anyway and bring a photo, which we will aim to display.

Pet Blessing services help us to remember the emotional and spiritual bond between humans and their animal companions, and sanctify that relationship by invoking God's blessing. They also serve as a reminder of the responsibility we humans have as stewards of God's creation, fostering kindness and care for all creatures.

St Francis was born in 1181, and is famous as an Italian mystic and poet, as well as the founder of the Franciscan order. He has often been portrayed in religious art surrounded by animals, and as a result became the patron saint of animals and ecology. In more recent years it became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day, which is also World Animal Day.

Photo above: participants in last year's Pet Blessing Service. More information on the attached flier.

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At this time of year we celebrate Harvest Festival. We give thanks to God for the blessings of food, comfort and joy.

We live in a country, and a world, with high and increasing rates of agricultural productivity and food yields. And yet global hunger is again on the rise, with one in nine of our fellow human beings undernourished.

And it is not only food. For all our science, our social care, and our understanding of psychology, there are more than 300 million people around the world affected by depression, and close to 800,000 people die each year at their own hand.

God has provided so much opportunity, but we struggle to share it equitably with others. And so we fail to live the dream of our plenteous harvest.

“We eat while others are hungry, we laugh while others are sad. For what we have we are thankful. Grant us to remember what others have not, and, where we can, to restore it”. (Morris West, Harlequin)

Support your Church at Harvest. Click here: https://stgeorgesmalaga.com/generousgod/,

Click 'more info' below to see Look at the World, a Harvest Anthem by John Rutter, comissioned in 1996 by the Council for the Protection of Rural England, as "a widely-usable choral song or anthem on the theme of the environment and our responsibility towards it"