🌾 Plough Sunday Service
A Celebration of the Agricultural Year
THE WELCOME
Welcome and Notices
(Congregation may stand as the plough is brought to the church door)
A Farmer says:
We come on Plough Sunday as representatives of the people to this Parish Church
to offer the work of the countryside to the service of God.
The Rector responds:
The Lord prosper you!
The Lord look over you and bless you,
and may God preserve your going out and your coming in,
from this time forth, for evermore.
(As the hymn is sung, the plough is carried through the church)
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it
The compass of the world and they that dwell within
The Lord looked upon the earth and filled it with his blessings
While the earth remains, seed time and harvest,
and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
Those that plough should plough in hope.
Our help is in the name of the Lord who has made heaven and earth.
PRAYER
(Please sit or kneel)
Let us pray. (A silence is held)
Almighty God, with whom we can do everything,
without whom we can do nothing.
Open our eyes that we may see you,
open our lips that we may praise you,
open our hearts that we may know you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
A Farmer leads us in confession.
No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back,
is fit for the Kingdom of God.
When we are grateful for the rain, and the sun, the snow and the frost,
in their season, and forget they are God’s gifts to us.
When we are blind to the mystery of germination,
and forget it is God’s handiwork.
When we fail to reach the high standards of animal husbandry we set ourselves,
and forget they are God’s gift to us.
When we are unkind to people and forget they are God’s children.
When we scamp our work, and forget we are God’s workers.
When we lapse in our stewardship of the land
and forget it is the splendour of God.
O God, forgive us.
O God, forgive us.
Absolution:
May the almighty and all-loving Father make you clean
from the wrong you have done in the past.
May our merciful Lord and Saviour Jesus
make you strong to sin no more in the future.
May the gracious and life-giving Holy Spirit
make you faithful to God again today,
to whom be the glory for ever and ever.
Amen
HYMN
(Feel free to stand. Please sit afterward.)
READING
Reader concludes:
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
THANKSGIVING
A Farmer leads us in thanksgiving.
From God comes every good and perfect gift.
From God comes every good and perfect gift.
The rich soil, the smell of the fresh turned earth
From God they come
Keenness of a winter’s frost, workers’ breath, and horses steaming
From God they come
The hum of the tractor, the gleam of a cutting edge
From God they come
The wheeling of the birds, worker’s shouts and laughter
From God they comeThe seamed hand, the knotted arm, the sweat of the brow,
the skill of the ploughman
From God they comeThe beauty of a clean cut furrow, the sweep of a well ploughed field
From God they comeBlessed be God in all his gifts
and holy in all his works.
🎶 THE GLORIA (to the tune of Amazing Grace)
(Please stand)
All Glory be to God in heaven,
for peace on earth we sing,
we worship you, we bring you thanks,
our Father, glorious king.Lord Jesus Christ, oh Lamb of God,
God’s only son, be praised!
Have mercy, take our sins away,
receive the prayers we raise.For you alone are God most high,
you are the Holy One
to Father, Son, and Spirit sing;
the glorious Three in One.
📖 A READING
(Please sit)
Reader concludes:
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
🗣️ SERMON
(Please stand for the hymn following)
🎵 HYMN
(Please stand. Sit afterward.)
🚜 THE BLESSING OF THE PLOUGH
A Farmer says:
Before the soil can be broken, or the seed sown,
or the green corn grow, or the grain be reaped,
or the bread baked, or the people be fed,
we must plough the field.
The plough is the sign of all our labour in the countryside;
the plough is the foundation of the farmer’s work.
We ask for God’s blessing on our labour.
The Rector responds:
God speed the plough;
the plough and the plougher,
the farm and the farmer,
machine, tractor and driver.God speed the plough;
the beam and the mouldboard,
the slade and the sidecap,
the share and the coulters.God speed the plough;
in fair weather and foul,
in success and disappointment,
in rain and wind,
or in frost and sunshine.God speed the plough.
God speed the plough.
By your blessing,
let this plough be a sign
of all that you promise to us.
Prosper the work of our hands,
and provide abundant crops
for your people to share.Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
God speed the plough.
🌱 BLESSING OF THE SOIL
A Farmer says:
All the earth is yours Lord.
We bring before you this rich and living soil
that you may bless us and our land with abundance.
The Rector responds:
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation:
in your wisdom you have made the earth fruitful
and entrusted it to our care.You shaped this island out of sea and rock
and gave us soil
that holds the memory of generations.Send your blessing
upon the soil of this island:
renew its fertility, refresh it by your Spirit,
and make it a place of life and growth.Restore what has grown tired,
cleanse what has been polluted,
and protect what is fragile.Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
Those who care for soil and sea and land:
God will renew the face of the earth.
🌾 THE BLESSING OF THE SEED
A Farmer says:
All life comes from life, from the seeds that God has given.
We bring before God the seeds of his creation,
and ask for his blessing on our sowing and planting.
The Rector responds:
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation:
in your goodness you have given us this seed to sow.
In it we perceive the promise of life,
the wonders of creative love.
By your blessing, let this seed be for us
a sign of your creative power,
that in sowing and watering,
tending and watching,
we may see the miracle of growth,
and in due course reap a rich harvest.
As this seed must die to give life,
reveal to us the saving power of your Son,
who died that we might live,
and plant us in the good seed of your word.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
“By itself the earth produces:
first the stalk, then the ear,
then the full grain shall appear.”
(Please sit)
🤝 THE BLESSING OF THE COMMUNITY
O God, who gives each one of us our work to do for your sake,
prosper, we pray, throughout this year
the work and workers in the fields
and on the farms of our island.
Let the ploughman's hope be fulfilled in a plentiful harvest.
Let your people be fed
with the wholesome food of the countryside.
Let town and country,
united in gratitude to you,
be drawn nearer to the understanding and true service of each other.
Grant that we who work this land
in fields, glasshouses, gardens,
orchards and allotments
may use your gifts wisely,
care for the land with gentleness,
and delight in its harvest.
Give fair weather, patient labour,
and safety for all who farm and fish.
May this island, and all who dwell here,
live in gratitude for your creation
and walk gently upon the earth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
🙏 THE LORD’S PRAYER
As a community, let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come; thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen
🎵 HYMN - Come ye thankful people come (Harvest Home)
A collection is taken.
✝️ THE BLESSING
Jesus, who walked with farmers and fishermen,
walk with us now, as the time comes to depart.
Stay with us Lord, in work and rest,
in mind and soul, in heart.
May God the Creator bless your labour.
May God the Son walk with you day by day.
May God the Holy Spirit inspire and strengthen you
as you work with him.
And may the road rise to meet you;
May the wind be always at your back;
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
May the rains fall softly upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be with all of you, this day and always.
Amen
✨ Closing Prayer
Tend the earth,
care for God’s good creation,
and bring forth the fruits of righteousness.
Go in the peace of Christ.
In the name of Christ. Amen.
🙏 Gratitude
Thank you to all who have made this service possible.
Please stay for refreshments.
📜 About Plough Sunday
Plough Sunday is a traditional celebration marking the beginning of the agricultural year.
Historically kept on the first Sunday after Epiphany, it was the moment when the community gathered to ask God’s blessing on the land, the soil, and the tools of farming before the hard work of the new season began.
In many rural parishes, the village plough was brought into church, prayers were offered for those who work the land, and everyone gave thanks for the rhythm of planting, tending, and harvest.
Today, Plough Sunday invites us to pause at the start of the year, to acknowledge our dependence on God’s creation, and to pray for all whose work—visible and unseen—helps bring food from field to table.
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