The Epworth & Belton Group of Churches

Revd Paul's Monthly Reflection – September 2025 - Walking Through the Seasons with God

September always seems to carry a sense of change. The days shorten, the air cools, and fields around us fill with the colours of harvest. Children return to school, students head off to university, and many of us find ourselves adjusting to new routines after the slower pace of summer. It is a month of both gathering in and setting out.

Harvest, of course, is more than just an agricultural season—it’s a spiritual one too. It reminds us of God’s faithfulness, the fruit of patient labour, and the importance of gratitude. The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it beautifully: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). September whispers this truth to us: that life is full of seasons, each carrying its own gifts and invitations.

Yet, beginnings and transitions are not always easy. For some, this month brings excitement and fresh energy; for others, it may stir anxiety or a sense of loss. In these moments, it helps to remember that God’s presence is not tied to one season alone. He walks with us through them all—the planting and the harvest, the endings and the beginnings.

So, as September unfolds, perhaps we might take time to notice what is being “gathered in” in our own lives: moments of joy, lessons learned, relationships deepened. And we might also ask: what new thing is God inviting us into?

My prayer is that this season may be for each of us a time of gratitude and trust—of gathering what has been, and stepping hopefully into what is to come, knowing that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Prayer

Faithful God,

thank you for the gifts of harvest,

for new beginnings and familiar rhythms.

Help us to live with grateful hearts,

to see your hand at work in every season,

and to walk forward in trust and hope,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Wishing you peace and every blessing this September,

Revd Paul

The Revd Paul Wilson

Rector of the Epworth Group of Churches

Priest-in-Charge of the Belton Group of Churches

Assistant Curate of the Crowle Group of Churches and the Haxey and Owston Ferry Plurality

Rural Dean of the Isle of Axholme Deanery