Kendrick United Methodist Church issued the following announcement on April 18.
On the first Sunday in February, the Rev. Daniel Mutidzawanda hauled a giant pumpkin into the sanctuary of Chisipiti United Methodist Church as part of a celebration lifting up the first harvest of the season to God.
The pumpkin was an offering from 86-year-old retired pastor the Rev. Zebediah Marewangepo, who proudly entered the sanctuary carrying bushels of rape and tsunga — a gift from another church member, 85-year-old Mavis Karuma.
Congregants celebrated wildly in appreciation and thanked God for protection against the wrath of COVID-19 and other challenges.
The Zimbabwe Episcopal Area has adopted the first fruits concept of offering in which church members bring the best portion of the initial harvest as an offering to God.
In the Old Testament, God commanded his people to present the first fruits to the Levitical priesthood, which then served as food in the house of the Lord in a ceremony called “the feast of the first fruits.”
The Rev. Alan Masimba Gurupira, administrative assistant to Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa, said The United Methodist Church is founded on biblical principles and traditions. “The celebration of first fruits,” he noted, “is, indeed, biblical; hence, it is sound for the church to practice. Though there is no traditional practice in the UMC of the same, it means those who have begun the practice have broken new ground.”
Gurupira expressed hope that the spirit embodied in the celebration would “engulf the entire church.”
He likened the movement to the popular tradition of harvest thanksgiving, which was initiated by Marewangepo at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Harare.
Original source can be found here.
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