Articles - From the Vicar

Dear Friends,

October at St Edmund's means harvest. This harvest we will be giving thanks for many things. At our harvest festival this year we will be giving thanks for all the money raised to kick start our building work appeal. Over the past few months many people have been turning their £10 seed corn money into tens or hundreds of pounds. In the process there has been a lot of socialising, getting to know each other better and having fun. We give thanks for that as well.

Although we do need to repair our building we know that we exist as a church for the sake of others as well. So as usual at harvest we will be collecting food for destitute asylum seekers at our Sunday services. Asylum is a major issue in our world today to rank alongside global warming in seriousness. Many at church are involved in responding to this crisis. Either by offering food, helping as a volunteer at PAFRAS, or providing a bed for the night through Short Stop. Yet we only touch the surface of the issue. Regulations preventing people sleeping rough in our city centre push dozens of people to sleep under motorway bridges out of town. Cold, hunger and mental health problems, added to the law preventing them from working means they cannot make a contribution to society, provide for themselves, or maintain their self-respect and dignity.

There are no easy answers. However, the deliberate policy of our government of making human beings destitute, sometimes for years on end, is a scandal and a stain on our society's reputation. So it is very right the churches speak out about this. On Page 10 in this magazine you can read about "Welcome the Stranger", a meeting organised by the local churches in response to this problem. Genuine thankfulness for the harvest of our lives will also lead us to engage with the issues that deprive others of even the basic necessities of life.

I do hope you will be able to engage with some of what is happening this harvest time.

With best wishes to you all,
David

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay