On September 18, 2016, the Harvest Feast was held at the Moscow Church "The Living Word". Many people came to the festival with pleasure. The church hall was full, about 120-150 people came. holiday program had a great time, to the glory of the Lord: songs, skits, the word of God, games, a feast, and so on ... The purpose of the Harvest Feast is to tell unbelieving people about the essence of the meaning of life and call to them so that they find salvation through Jesus Christ.

Traditionally, the decoration of the hall for the Feast of the Harvest is the harvest from the fields, vegetable gardens and orchards.

The host Danil G. joyfully greeted everyone with the love of Christ. Many spectators watched the scenes with pleasure and listened attentively to the Word of God.

Pastor Arthur J. led the blessing of the children.

The teenage sisters praised God: “For all thanksgiving…”.

Anastasia A. and Daria B. glorified God: “The whole harvest is ripe…”.

The program of the holiday included a teenage theatrical performance “The Fruit of the Spirit”. In it, the children clearly depicted that the Lord wants us to bear the fruit of the spirit in our lives and become like the image of His Son Jesus Christ. Our fruit of the spirit is to imitate Christ in everything: in our character, behavior, way of life.

The second scene was on the theme "Harvest - the end of the age." The participants in this skit showed that our life can end at any moment. Two different ends of earthly life were depicted: for those prepared for death and for those who were not ready to meet God after death. The result was summed up: to gain eternal life, to be ready for a meeting with God - we can only through faith in Jesus Christ!

Pastor Arthur J. preached on the topic "The Harvest". When we have deadlines, we can prevent wasting time. You need to decide: why, when and how to do the work. All our cases can be conditionally divided into 4 categories: "Important and urgent matters", "Important but not urgent matters", "Urgent but not important matters" and "Not urgent and not important matters". Basically, people run on urgent matters, not on important ones. Of course, urgent matters need to be done. But, neglecting important matters, and doing only urgent matters, in the end, nothing remains, i.e. emptiness. The result of the sermon: the most important and most urgent thing for all people without exception is to be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Nadezhda P. praised the Lord: “Come to Me…”.

Sisters in Christ glorified Jesus Christ for miraculous gifts.

Meanwhile, after the blessing of the pastor, teacher Sunday school held for children interesting activities. The children were offered various crafts and games for every taste.

The older children listened to the teacher, and then discussed the topic: "The Fruit of the Spirit."

And at the end of the holiday, a delicious feast awaited everyone!

The boys discussed the names of various fruits and vegetables. It's good for them to know about it.

After the feast, some shared with each other questions from the Holy Scriptures that interested them.

Praise God for this wonderful holiday!

Text: Arthur J.

Usually, after the summer, many evangelical churches celebrate the so-called "Harvest Festival" - usually it is celebrated either at the end of September or at the beginning of October - there is no single date. I would call this holiday "Russian Christian Thanksgiving Day" - the Orthodox Church also has something similar - perhaps the holiday is not called that, but there is definitely something like that on these dates.

So, before the start of the meeting, those responsible for decorating the hall usually gather:



Usually these are several people who bring various fruits and vegetables with them to decorate the pulpit where the preacher speaks, as well as other parts of the hall.


They try to make a beautiful picture of fruits to the maximum:

But the first visitors to the church with children began to appear - the children have a special Sunday school program: children will play different vegetables and fruits and recite poems. Here is a typical representative - guess what kind of fruit or vegetable this is pretty Baby? (answer at the end)

Among the guests are representatives different countries- this guest came from Kazakhstan to St. Petersburg - he came to the meeting at the invitation of friends. Attends the same church of Evangelical Christians - only in Kazakhstan (Central Asia).

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Gradually, the hall filled with people and the meeting begins with general singing - the choir and musicians are a little nervous - the holiday is still ..

Many come to church with their children - some go to Sunday school, and some sit with their parents:

The musicians prepared a festive musical program - some festive thematic songs of glorification of the Lord God, gratitude to God for everything:

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The singing lasts about 20-30 minutes - during this time they manage to sing about 8 songs. this is a festive service, so this time there are more songs than usual.

Now it's the turn of the children's performances - they present their program - each child tells with the help of a poem learned with his parents what kind of fruit he is today (video from this children's performance)

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Many parents and not only have prepared video and photo equipment for filming perhaps the first performances of their children:

One of the families timed the blessing of their baby to this holiday - the whole church and the pastor pray for the baby:

Next comes a sermon on the theme of the Feast of the Harvest - our attitude of the heart, about gratitude to God for everything:

Then again the musical group prepared festive songs for general singing:

After the meeting, many of the participants in the meeting want to capture themselves with a composition of fruits and vegetables as a keepsake. It will be such a good picture for memory!

After the service, everyone goes to a cafe for a festive program with food and competitions - on tables and for everyone:

So, the presenter has the first competition "whose thing is this?" - shows a thing and asks to whom it can belong - you need to guess the person.

Someone suffers on stage and performs a competition - he always has a smiling support team.

An attempt to drink juice from a neighboring table with a straw, which consists of many other straws, is creative and nothing more! Harvest Festival! :)

Communication and discussion of issues from the host on the tables.

Competition on the tables - each table must be wrapped with something under the arm and scotch tape so that when it falls on the tile it does not break. This is where the fantasy turns on to the fullest!

First they throw an egg...

And then look - crashed or not. In my opinion, out of 6 people, only one or two crashed. Most wrapped the eggs in such a wrapper that it was difficult not only to break - it was difficult to open later to see if it was broken or not?

Competition - who will eat the baguette the fastest - and this is after the snack eaten i.e. at the very end of the holiday, when the stomach is already full - the volunteers clearly have little desire to eat anything else:

And the prize for the winner turned out to be... BAGGUETTE! joy knows no bounds!

It all ends with songs - how could it be without them! :)

All this happened within the framework of one of the evangelical churches of St. Petersburg -

Two friends. Author: The Feast of the Harvest is the most interesting holiday for Christians. At this time, there is a feeling that he has become closer to the Lord. You begin to wonder if life is not fruitless. Mentally imagine a tree, no, two trees. On the…

There is a tree on the stage. This may be a person who is wearing a large sheet of paper with the image of a tree, or decorated with branches, etc. The fruits of the spirit can be played by older children, they stand behind a tree so that the audience does not see them ...

Act 1 Leader: Parable of the sower. There was a sower with grains in the field and sowed; And the wind scattered those grains everywhere. At this time, a sower appears and leaves an open bible, then leaves. Leading: Some fell on the road, sometimes a passer-by tramples them ...

Time: 15 minutes Actors: Author, commentator, oak, birch, linden, acacia, ash, pine, chestnut, poplar, willow, heather. Author: Now we will tell a story about the purpose of trees. After all, they are all an example for us, Listen in humility. Trees are all...

Time: 5 minutes Actors: boy, rose, cornflower, spikelet. Boy: In front of me are lilies of the valley, peonies, Islands of daisies, cornflowers ... And I exclaimed, captivated by beauty: "Is there anything more beautiful than flowers?" The dear assembly was agitated, How ...

Time: 10 minutes Actors: Semyon, Ivan, a girl, a dog, a donkey. Author: Kozhakina Vika, Novorossiysk, 1998 Act 1 Two boys meet near the vines they have grown. Semyon: Good morning, Ivan! Ivan: Hello. How is your…

Natalya Ulezkina

Decor music hall. Topic " harvest festival"

Making decorations with your own hands.

In November, it is already very cold and dull outside. Already flew all the leaves from the trees, the harvest has been harvested The days are short and the sun rarely shines. Everything around seemed to freeze in anticipation of winter.

But we, in our kindergarten, did not think to be sad. Together with the children, we decided to arrange harvest festival to relive those wonderful moments that summer and autumn gave us!

And what would our holiday turned out warm sunny we decided decorate it with a whole field of sunflowers. After all sunflower- a symbol of summer and the sun. It is as if the luminary opens its petals and fills the soul with its warmth.

As it turned out, making a beautiful flower is not at all difficult.

Us need: cardboard, black colored paper, yellow corrugated paper, drawing paper or a piece of wallpaper 1 m long, black and green gouache, glue and scissors.

Let's get started.

We cut out circles from cardboard and black paper, with a diameter of 20 cm and 19 cm, respectively (any size is possible, the main thing is that the cardboard circle is about 1 cm larger)

Cut out petals from corrugated paper, twist them a little with a pencil

Glue petals onto cardboard

petals make two rows

glue a black circle on top

draw a grid with black gouache

Our sunflower almost ready

It remains to make the stem. Together with the children, we painted a piece of wallpaper green, and then cut out the stems and leaves.

Grass was also made from a piece of wallpaper

And here's what we got eventually:

Petals reflected in the mirror became twice as voluminous.

And our hall shone with warmth and sun!

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Harvest in various faiths

God the Creator annually gives people a harvest, because He promised after the Flood: "... henceforth, all the days of the earth, sowing and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease" (Bible, Genesis, chapter 8, verse 22).

In the days of the Old Testament, the Lord God established the Feast of the Harvest for those who wanted to live according to His laws. We read about this in the Bible: “Observe both the feast of the harvest of the first fruits of your labor, which you sow in the field, and the feast of gathering fruits at the end of the year, when you take away your work from the field” (Book of Exodus, chapter 23, verse 16). After the end of the harvest, the Israelites thanked God for the abundance of grown fruits. They gave part of the harvest these days for the needs of the Temple and for charity.

Christians of various denominations celebrate this holiday today, offering thanksgiving prayers for the earthly fruits given by God.

In the Orthodox tradition, thanksgiving for the harvest takes place on holidays that fall between August 1 and October 1, when the main agricultural work is completed (Honey Savior, Apple Savior, Bread Savior and others).

Christians in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving Day, when, according to tradition, a fried turkey is prepared for the festive table - in memory of the fact that the meat of this bird, donated by local Indians, helped the colonists survive the difficult period before the first harvest, when they were in dire need of food.

It has already become a tradition in our churches that many parishioners on this day bring the best fruits grown in their own gardens. Thus, we testify to what kind of harvest the Lord has blessed us with this year.

Harvest Feast in the Old Testament

The Feast of the Harvest has an Old Testament history. The Jews celebrated the feast of the first fruits, for which they gave thanks to God.

We can remember the very first story of the Old Testament, when Cain and Abel presented their first fruits to God. Abel brought from his flock, and Cain from his fruits (Gen. 4:3-4). But God did not despise Cain's gifts, because in Cain's heart there was no genuine thanksgiving, true gratitude to God for His gifts to man (Genesis 4:7).

We see that the cult of offerings to God by a person of the first gifts has an ancient origin. With such an offering, a person expressed his gratitude and gratitude to God, entering into an intimate circle of relationships of reciprocity and love with Him. This was the priesthood of man: cultivating, cultivating the life given to him, it was expected that he would bring this life, its first fruits, to God.

God is a self-sufficient Being. His existence is unconditioned. He, as a Personality, expects from us, the free personalities created by Him, reciprocal love. This love is tested and judged by God in our first fruits.

When the people of Israel appear, God gives commandments to the new nation. Among them we find instructions to Israel to observe the Feast of the Harvest: “Observe also the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of your labor, which you sowed in the field” (see Ex. 23:14-16, esp. 16; and also Ex. 34:21-22 , Leviticus 23:15-16, Deut. 16:9-12). In Deuteronomy we read: “Count seven weeks for yourself; start counting seven weeks from the time the sickle appears in the harvest; then celebrate the feast of weeks to the Lord your God, according to the diligence of your hand, how much you give, according to what the Lord your God blesses you; and rejoice before the Lord your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your servant, and your handmaid, and the Levite who is in your dwellings, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow who are among you, in the place, which the Lord your God will choose, that his name may be there; remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and observe and fulfill these ordinances.”

From this we see that one of the features of the feasts was remembrance (v. 12). Celebrating the "Harvest" on the fiftieth day (weeks - the number of full weeks, hence, another name for the holiday "Pentecost", according to the number of days after Easter) after the main and central holiday of Easter, the Jews had to remember what happened to them when they were slaves in Egypt. A similar idea of ​​"remembrance" has a meaning in the commandment of Jesus, in the breaking of bread.

And again one can see the close connection of this memory with the idea of ​​thanksgiving. Remembering their hardships and slavery in Egypt, the Jewish people thanked God for deliverance from the bonds and oppression in a foreign land. This memory was framed in festive form as Israel rejoiced in the presence of the Lord!

The Feast of the Harvest in the New Testament

On the feast of Pentecost, the historical birth of the Christian church took place with the descent of the Holy Spirit. The apostles and all those gathered in the upper room began to speak in different languages. All this testified to the fact that God turns his gaze to the pagans, pointing to the universal dimension of the church born by Him. This pointed prophetically to the words of Jesus Christ: “I tell you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:29). Reclining is not a sleepy state, but an indication of the process of eating. The task of the Christian mission was to celebrate and continue to celebrate in the future the eternal celebration of that true Pascha, of which Jesus Christ was a type.

Jesus speaks of the future Feast of the Kingdom, during which He will drink new wine (Matt. 26:29). To this Feast, the Marriage of the Lamb and the Church, all people are invited, all the ends of the earth are called. But blessed are those who come (Rev. 19:7-9).

We see that the festive side of the relationship with God after the tragic retreat of man in the Garden of Eden continues in the development of the relationship between God (Jesus the Lamb) and His Church (the Bride).

According to legend, the people of Israel on the fiftieth day after their deliverance from Egyptian captivity came to Mount Sinai, where Moses received the law. This serves as a kind of type of what happened in that upper room where the apostles gathered. The Holy Spirit descended upon the Church and created a new society. It is significant that all this happened on the day when Israel celebrated the event of the descent of the Spirit of God on the mountain sung by the psalmists.

The Harvest in the History of the Christian Church

Over time, the Church adopted only some Jewish holidays (for example, the Feast of Tabernacles did not become part of the calendar, entering a separate church calendar). Some feasts fell into the same category of festivals that the pagans celebrated. As a result, a synthesis of pagan and Christian rituals takes place.

Since the time of the Reformation, there have been attempts to return the Harvest holiday to its original place in the church calendar, since before that it was associated with those festivities that took place in August-October, and during which the consecration of the Church took place. After the Reformation (since 1770), this holiday began to be celebrated as a liturgical one.

In modern times, Harvest Day is usually celebrated on the first Sunday after September 22, or on the first Sunday in October.

In all evangelical churches, regardless of confessional affiliation, the hall for worship is decorated with flowers, compositions of vegetables and fruits, wreaths of wheat ears are placed, braids of onions are hung out.

Celebrating the Harvest, the Church expresses its essence and purpose - gratitude to God and love for Him.

The Spiritual Meaning of the Feast of the Harvest

“Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Bible, Galatians, chapter 6, verse 7). This well-known law applies not only to the material sphere, but also to the spiritual. He calls us to sow the blessed seeds of goodness, love and compassion, as people need it.

Once the prophet Jeremiah noted: “The harvest is over, the summer is over, and we are not saved” (Bible, Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, chapter 8, verse 20). Material prosperity is God's blessing. Lack of gratitude in our lives is the result of spiritual apathy, our secularization and destruction.

Christian churches encourage people, you personally, to think about the fact that everything in this world is transient and temporary. God gives us all the opportunity to communicate with Him. Harvest is a celebration of our joy and thanksgiving not only for earthly things, but also for eternal life, which God gave us in His Son Jesus Christ!