‘Rhythms and rituals episode 3 - Firstfruits’ by Owen Lynch - 3 May 2026

How can celebrating and giving the first part of our year’s grown food be helpful to us? Owen Lynch looks at the festival of Firstfruits, given in the Bible for Jewish people to mark a few days after Passover. It recognises how a food-growing community that has gone through a season where nothing grew could look forward to more fruitful life ahead. They didn’t wait for the whole year’s harvest, but made offerings from their first fruits in faith that new life had overcome the threat of death. What difference could that kind of faith make to us, and how can we practise it?

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‘Rhythms and rituals episode 4 - Pentecost, the festival of Weeks’ by Owen Lynch - 31 May 2026
‘Rhythms and rituals episode 4 - Pentecost, the festival of Weeks’ by Owen Lynch - 31 May 2026

What does it mean to celebrate things that grow slowly? Owen Lynch looks at the Jewish festival that marked 50 days after Passover. In the time since offering first fruits of the harvest to God, more crops had grown and matured, and bread could be made that had time to rise. Offering this to God showed thanks for his provision of things that took time to get right. How often do we appreciate these things more than what we can get instantly, on demand, for ourselves?

Pentecost also used to be understood as a celebration of the nation-defining law given to Moses so Jewish people could grow. Christians remember the Holy Spirit given to believers at the time of this festival too. What does God want us to know about what can happen when we let this Spirit define us and grow fruit slowly in us?

‘Rhythms and rituals episode 3 - Firstfruits’ by Owen Lynch - 3 May 2026
‘Rhythms and rituals episode 3 - Firstfruits’ by Owen Lynch - 3 May 2026

How can celebrating and giving the first part of our year’s grown food be helpful to us? Owen Lynch looks at the festival of Firstfruits, given in the Bible for Jewish people to mark a few days after Passover. It recognises how a food-growing community that has gone through a season where nothing grew could look forward to more fruitful life ahead. They didn’t wait for the whole year’s harvest, but made offerings from their first fruits in faith that new life had overcome the threat of death. What difference could that kind of faith make to us, and how can we practise it?

‘Rhythms and rituals episode 2 - Sabbath’ by Owen Lynch - 22 March 2026
‘Rhythms and rituals episode 2 - Sabbath’ by Owen Lynch - 22 March 2026

What is so important about rest? Owen Lynch looks at what it meant for God’s people to be told and shown how to rest together, and what might be good for us to learn from this too. What difference would it make for us to create space for our own ways of practising a Sabbath rest, and how could we make a start?

‘Rhythms and rituals episode 1 - Passover’ by Owen Lynch - 11 January 2026
‘Rhythms and rituals episode 1 - Passover’ by Owen Lynch - 11 January 2026

How do we find meaning in life through what we regularly do? Owen Lynch looks at the role of repeated patterns, habits or rituals in diverse places, from the minds of sports stars to the tables of families. God's people have also been encouraged for centuries to remember who we and God are to each other through shared festivals with meaningful meals. This year, people at Severn can expect to share the Lord's Supper regularly, and we remember what this means - Jesus' life, given for us - as we share it today.

Owen LynchSevern VineyardRhythms and rituals, Leviticus