Pics: Ramesh Pandith
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)
Mangaluru, Oct 13: CSI Kanthi Church, Jeppu celebrated the Harvest Festival on Wednesday, October 12. The morning service began with a procession involving the members of the church which comprised of children, youth, senior members, the pastorate committee led by Presbyter-in-charge of CSI Kanthi church Rev Prabhuraj , and Presbyter-in-charge of CSI Shanthi church Rev Robinson Barnabas.
The Cathedral, Balmatta brought in the sheaves and new crops of harvest. The service started off solemnly with a melodious Tulu choir comprised of the members of the church. They marked the significance of the harvest festival and gave thanks to Almighty.
Rev Prabhuraj presided over the service along with hymns and reading of the scripture.
A special Kannada song was sung by the members of the Young Men’s Prayer Union (YMPU) which gave praise to God for the festival of the new crop.
h special intercessory prayer of thanksgiving for the feast was also held . Rev Robinson Barnabas gave an inspiring message on occasion. The concluding hymn was combined with the distribution of the paddy stems to all the members of the church.
The service concluded with a silvery instrumental postlude, a medley of ‘You raise me up and God still loves the world’.
After the church service, there was an auction of harvest for all church members, with a variety of items and goodies ranging from fruits, vegetables and grocery to household items.
All the church members with enthusiastically and wholeheartedly participated and made the harvest festival of CSI Kanthi Church a grand success.
Kanthi church later organised its annual athletic sports meet.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Sushil Jathanna, Director at Global Multispeciality Hospital and CSI Lombard Memorial Hospital wished the gathering a happy and prosperous harvest festival. He said, "The main objective of celebrating harvest festival is to give thanks to the Lord for the good harvest provided by him in the current year, and praying for a better harvest in the coming year too. It is imperative to praise the Lord for the abundant blessings showered on us."
He lauded the efforts of the church in organising a sports meet."Sports is vital for the physical and mental health of people across the age groups. It also helps build a relationship among the members of the church. Thereby it strengthens the institution." he added.
He also suggested that the community should be united. "What we see today is that we are fighting individually. This attitude should change, only when we fight unitedly, we can fight with any threat regarding the community." he opined.
Premananda Shetty, the corporator of Mangaladevi Ward, wished everyone a prosperous harvest festival and said, "India is a nation with unity in diversity. There are multi languages and religions. Despite this, we are all united. The country has a rich culture and all the religious institutions are trying their best to preserve and promote the rich culture of this land."
He also lauded the efforts of the sports committee in organising a sports meet. "The sports committee has done an excellent job by holding a sports meet here. I am very happy that today festivals are not confined to the celebrations of rituals alone. Activities like this will help to preserve the rich culture of this land. Being the corporator of this area, I have had the privilege to be with you all in many programmes. I thank all of you for inviting me here and wish to be part of many more events in the future too." he said.
Winners of various sports items were presented with gifts at the occasion.
Rev M P Prabhuraj presided over the function.