Sunday Worship

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Sunday Worship: A new heaven and a new earth

A new heaven and a new earth

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday Worship, A new heaven and a new earth

The Rev Canon Rachel Mann celebrates an urban harvest

The Rev'd Canon Rachel Mann of St Nick's Burnage, Manchester celebrates an urban harvest.

Traditionally harvest is a time to celebrate and offer thanksgiving for God’s bounty in nature. Rachel Mann leads today’s service and reflects on what harvest might mean for those of us who, even in a covid-shaped world, live in a busy urbanised environment. After months of tiring but necessary restrictions on our lives, what do we have to be thankful for? What ‘harvest’ do those who live in urban settings have to offer to those who don’t? What might a new 'holy city' and 'new earth' look like for urban and country dweller alike? We'll hear from people deep in city life, such as Councillor Azra Ali, a Trustee of Burnage Food Bank who's seen generosity overflow in the past few months, and those from within the LGBT community who have faced intense pressures on their mental health during lockdown, but who have also found much to be thankful for in the bonds of solidarity and care found in virtual ways of connecting. Rev. Grace Thomas will share how she's been instrumental in helping congregations in south Manchester think about how they can cherish God’s creation and address the climate emergency. Reading: Revelation 21.1-5. Producer: Miriam Williamson.

Music: 
We Plough the Fields and Scatter - Choir of King's School Canterbury
For the Beauty of the Earth - Beth Nielsen Chapman
When I Needed A Neighbour - Wells Cathedral Choir
Come Ye Thankful People Come - Leigh Nash
And I Saw a New A New Heaven (Bainton) - Choir of St Bride's Fleet Street
Creation Sings - Stuart Townend 
How Great Thou Art - Aled Jones & Russell Watson

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