Submitted by
S. Daly

Age Group
7-11

Aim
To appreciate God's gift of the sea
To share the harvest

Faith Group
Christian

Resources
A display of harvest foods donated by parents and children to distribute to local people
A wall scene, painted by the children, showing harvests of the sea
Large sheets of paper with prayer responses written on
A display of shells, starfish etc.

Time of Year
Autumn
Harvest

Other Details
This assembly is long enough to be a full harvest festival performed before parents

Script
INTRODUCTION

LEADER: Welcome to our harvest festival.
Today, we will be thinking about the harvest in general, but also, more especially, about the harvest of the sea.
A harvest festival is a time to say "Thank you" to God, for the food he provides and for all his goodness to us. Of course we should always be thanking God for our life and the gifts of the earth and sea, but sometimes we forget. So, every autumn, we make a special effort to remember.
Our children, parents and staff have provided a wonderful display of food, which will be given to needy people. The children have also worked hard producing pictures for our 'Harvest of the Sea' wall display.
Now, let us thank God, through whose goodness we have this harvest.

CHILD 1: First, we thank God for the autumn, a lovely time of year.

Thank you, Father, for the autumn:
for leaves of red, gold, green and brown,
for ripening fruit, and harvest fields,
for conkers in the chestnut trees,
for berries in the hedges,
for the smell of bonfire smoke in the air,
for misty mornings, and long shadows in the afternoon.
The colours of autumn and the harvest fruits remind us of your love for us. Thank you Father.

CHILD 2: Now, we thank God for the harvest.

The response is: We thank you, God our Father.

Lord, you have given us the harvest of the fields:
corn and vegetables, milk and wool.
Response...

You have given us the harvest of the orchards:
apples and cherries, and fruits of many kinds.
Response...

You have given us fish from the sea, coal, oil and metals from the depths of the earth.
Response...

You have shown people how to use their skills to make and gather the many different harvests.
Response...

PENITENTIAL RITE

LEADER: When God created the world, he made everything that man would need. However, we sometimes use God's gifts unwisely.
We do not always appreciate the wonders of creation or the miracle of our yearly harvest. For this, we say sorry.

The response is: We are sorry, Lord.

For the times when we have refused to share God's gifts with others...
Response...

For the times when we have wasted food ...
Response...

For the times when we have destroyed something which somebody else could have used...
Response...

CHILD 3: Dear Heavenly Father, sometimes we think that miracles only happened to people in the Bible, but every year the harvest is one of your greatest miracles - please forgive us that when we get used to something happening every year we sometimes forget to see it as being special each time.

We want to tell you how wonderful your world is! You think of everything! There is food for us to eat, water for us to drink, coal, oil and gas to keep us warm, air for us to breathe, people for us to love.

Lord, this world is full of miracles and we praise you for each one.

Let us now sing All the Nations by Michael Cockett. (Celebration Hymnal for Everyone number 26)

CHILD 4: All the time, somewhere in the world, people are harvesting.
But all the time, too, some people lose their harvest and are too poor to buy the things they need. We think especially of the people in Africa, whose farms have been flooded.

We need good food and enough of it to keep us strong and to make us grow. Everyone needs food, and God our Father provides enough for everyone. everywhere.

But there is a saying, "There is enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed."

Teach those of us who have more than we need, to think about the poor. Show us ways of sharing the harvest so that there is enough for everybody.

SEA

CHILD 5: There is a story in the Bible which shows that God provides enough food for everyone, if we share.

FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND (MIMED)

CHILD 6: Jesus had. spent the day curing the sick. People saw this and a great crowd began to follow him.

Jesus and his friends sat down on a hillside, to rest. The crowd now numbered about five thousand. Jesus knew they must be hungry and began to wonder how to feed them. Then his friend Andrew pushed a young boy forward.

ANDREW: Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two fish.

CHILD 6: Jesus blessed the food and it was given out to the crowd.
Everyone had enough. Then Jesus said to his friends,

JESUS: Pick up the bits of food left over. We don't want to waste anything.

CHILD 6: They picked up enough food to fill twelve baskets!

CHILD 7: Jesus and the Apostles lived near the Sea of Galilee - and some of the Apostles were fishermen. The sea was very important to them - and bread and fish formed a large part of their diet.
We live about fifty miles from the sea, but it is still very important to us. Britain is surrounded by water. We harvest many things from it, all through the year, not just in the autumn.

CHILD 8: From under the sea we harvest coal, oil and gas.

CHILD 9: In the sea, we find salt, fish, coral, pearls and sponges, as well as beautiful animals to look at, like whales and dolphins.

CHILD 10: (PROSE)
There are forests at the bottom of the sea, with: branches and leaves, sea lettuce, lichens, strange flowers and seeds, waving grass, weed and rushes.
Above them swim: the leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the sting-ray, clownfish, jellyfish, octopus and squid, seahorses, angel fish and eels.
The oceans are teeming with life.

CHILD 11: Near the shore, we find seaweed, crabs and shellfish - and,
of course, we have a lot of fun at the seaside on holiday.

CHILD 13: (POEM)
When we go to the sandy beach
We have a pail and shovel each,
And lots of sand and crabs and shells,
And lots of at-the-seashore smells -

Of salty sea, and seaweed bunches,
And sunny sand, and picnic lunches,
And bathing suits and sun-baked wood,
And cool sea breezes, awfully good,
That smell, perhaps, of Spain and France,
And make the far-off whitecaps dance,
And make the seagulls turn and wheel.

I know exactly how they feel -
All light as air, and bare and free,
And warm as sun, and cool as sea,
And wild and lazy as the sound
Of all that ocean all around.

I guess there's no way you can know
Unless some day, you too can go
(With lunch and pail and shovel each)
Down to some wide and sandy beach.

CHILD 13: (POEM)
There are big waves and little waves,
Green waves and blue,
Waves you can jump over,
Waves you dive through
Waves that rise up
Like a great water wall
Waves that swell softly
And don't break at all,
Waves that can whisper,
Waves that can roar
And tiny waves that run at you
Playing on the shore.

CHILD 14: Thank you, heavenly Father, for the seaside,
for the sandy beach and the splashing waves,
for sandcastles and seaweed,
for crabs and shells and rocks.
You made them all for us to enjoy. Thank you.

CHILD 15: Heavenly Father, at this time of harvest, we especially want to remember the men who work at sea - lifeboat men, men on the oil rigs, sailors in the navy and fishermen. They work long hours in dangerous conditions. Please bring them home safely to their families and friends. Amen.

LEADER: Jesus told his Apostles to be fishers of men.
Water is a symbol of life and renewal.

Lord Jesus, let us be renewed in your love, a love that is as sure and certain as the flow of the sea.

We go out from this harvest festival with thankful hearts.
May we continue to share joyfully and generously, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us now sing a hymn praising God for the wonders of his creation If I Were a Butterfly by Brian Howard. (Celebration Hymnal for Everyone number 298)