My dear friends,

Christopher Grey who was one of my contemporaries at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield was educated at Winchester College and they say that you can tell a Winchester man by his impeccable manners. This was certainly true of Christopher who had been head boy there. Christopher was politeness personified and he always had time for people and would help student colleagues who were struggling. 

I have fond memories of a day out with him when he showed me around Winchester College during the long vacation.  Winchester College began when William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, founded the college in 1382. His personal motto was Manners Makyth Man, and that remains the College motto to this day.

Harvest Thanksgiving which we will celebrate on Sunday 18th October, is primarily about manners, and remembering them. The Tradition of Harvest Thanksgiving began in 1843, at Morwenstow in Cornwall, where the Rector, Robert Hawker, wanted to give thanks to God in a truly fitting way for providing the world's plenty. This service took place on the first of October, when bread made from the first cut of corn was used at the Eucharist.

“Parson Hawker", as he was known to his parishioners, was something of an eccentric, both in his clothes and his habits. He loved bright colours and it seems the only black things he wore were his socks. He built a small hut from driftwood on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where he spent many hours writing his poems.

He is known to have dressed up as a mermaid, and he excommunicated his cat for mousing on Sundays. He dressed in a claret-coloured coat, blue fisherman's jersey, long sea-boots, a pink brimless hat and a poncho made from a yellow horse blanket, which he claimed was the ancient habit of St Pardarn. He talked to birds, invited his nine cats into church and kept a huge pig as a pet.

Eccentric he might have been, but he knew that Manners Makyth Man, and was distressed that the Industrial Revolution was having the nation-wide effect of eroding the old seasonal celebrations by which an agricultural people acknowledged their dependence on the God of the seasons and of all creation. Plough Sunday, Rogation, Lammas: all these observances were disappearing fast and he thought there  should be more than a great secular party when ‘all is safely gathered in'. He felt there should be a service of thanksgiving as well.

Thanksgiving, thanking, expressing our gratitude, making known our appreciation – these are activities which are central to our humanity, to being made in the image and likeness of God. When we thank someone for what he or she has said or done, we are affirming that person, and encouraging, strengthening and cheering him or her.

So the festival of Harvest Thanksgiving bids us to remember our manners, and to give thanks to God who created this world in love – a world capable of giving every man, woman and child enough and to spare. That so many go hungry in a world of plenty is a reminder that the spirit of genuine gratitude is very close to the spirit of generosity: as the old Irish proverb puts it, ‘When the hand ceases to scatter, the mouth ceases to praise.'

And here is something of a conundrum, because when the charities and agencies that do so much wonderful work for those in the hungry and thirsty and war-torn lands of our world think of harvest, they seem to see it as a time to pile on the guilt. Of course it is guilt-making that we have so much when others have so little, and we need to work to bring greater justice and equity into our one world.

However, I am convinced that if we can only discover the spirit of true gratitude, the rest will follow. Is it just the prejudices of advancing age which cause me to think that people are taking less trouble to express thanks than they used to do?

The Bible assures us that there is nothing new under the sun, and we can all remember how surprised was Jesus  that, when he sent the ten lepers on their way with the promise that they would be healed, only one turned back to thank him when he discovered his flesh pure and clean – ‘and he was a Samaritan'. I think we impoverish ourselves when we are miserly with our thanks.

Our service of Harvest Thanksgiving will take place in the context of the Holy Communion on Sunday 18th October.  And the word we use here at the Vale for the service of Holy Communion – Eucharist – is simply an Anglicised version of the Greek for ‘thanksgiving'.

God neatly turns the table on our selfishness and reminds us that when we come to the Eucharist, we will be betraying its spirit and its essence unless we come in a spirit of gratitude and generosity. For when we come to the Holy Communion, we are not just in church to receive grace and mercy and forgiveness and blessing. We are also there to give thanks and praise and love and service.

It follows, incidentally, that every time we are not in church when we so easily could be is like another thank you letter missed. Our whole community is impoverished by one person's ingratitude. So here is a little prayer of George Herbert's we would all do well to make our own:

Lord, Thou hast given us so much; give us one more thing we pray: a grateful heart – for Christ's sake. Amen.

And what of Christopher Gray? He was murdered in front of his vicarage in Anfield, Liverpool on August 13th 1996 at the age of 32 living out his college motto by trying to give assistance to a disturbed youth.

May he Rest in Peace.

With my love and blessings,

Your Rector and friend,