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Harvest 2020 Reflections
New people... in new places... in new ways
Greetings! 

 Draw the Circle Wide

Read Matthew 11:28-30.

"Draw the circle wide; draw it wider still. Let this be our song! No one stands alone. Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide!"

Harry Nicol
Harry Nicol and his grandson, Aspen 
Sometimes I get a song inside my head, and I can't get it out. That's how it is with this song written by Mark Miller and Gordon Light. I love the imagery of this song. A large circle, a growing circle. Reaching out, inviting others in, to grow the circle. No one standing alone. Each one has others at his/her side. For me the message of this song is the message of Harvest 2020.


Harvest 2020 is our effort in Northern Illinois to reach out to new places, to new people, in new ways, to draw the circle wider. What is very compelling to me about the Harvest 2020 movement is that it goes beyond "open doors." It's much more dynamic than that. It's reaching out, going out, being bold with our invitation to join the circle.

A beautiful part of God's extravagant generosity is that God has given us a wonderfully diverse human family. Among my earliest and fondest memories of our United Methodist heritage is the concept of the open table of Holy Communion. Each person is invited to the table. To me it's as if Christ is standing at the table with open arms inviting each of us into his presence and into that fellowship.

This is the nature of the Harvest 2020 movement. Harvest 2020 takes us out of our doors, into the world outside, and we invite. We invite others to join the circle, join the family, come into the fellowship, share the journey, eat at the table. It's an act of extraordinary hospitality.

The movement is a test of our boldness and our capacity to draw the circle wider, to invite others into our circle of caring and fellowship.

When this dynamic happens, It's a beautiful thing.

~Harry Nicol

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Click below to hear the song, "Draw the Circle Wide," sung at Foundry UMC in Washington DC on January 18, 2009.

Draw the Circle Wide
Draw the Circle Wide


About the Author 

Harry Nicol was ordained in the Northern IL Conference in June 1969, a month after graduation from Union Theological Seminary in NYC. He notes with relief that the ordination was much less rigorous then that it is now. He has served churches in Deerfield, Minooka and Buffalo Grove. He has also worked outside the local church as Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lake County from 1993- 2003 and since 2003 as President of the United Methodist Foundation of the Northern IL Conference.

Harry is married to Lois and has four children and four grandchildren (fifth on the way). He enjoys doing almost anything with Lois (especially traveling) and with his children and grandchildren. Harry and Lois live in Buffalo Grove and attend Christ UMC, Deerfield, where he serves on the Service Ministry Committee and coordinates mission trips.

He maintains that his job at the Foundation is the best job in the annual conference and hopes that many of you would say the same thing about your job.

Harry helps plan and coordinate some of the work of the Harvest 2020 capital campaign.



Northern Illinois Conference

These devotional pieces have been written by members of the Clergy Committee of the Harvest 2020 Campaign. For the next three weeks - on three days of each week- you will receive an e-mail with their reflection, a picture and a brief "bio" telling you a bit about who they are and how they serve in the Northern Illinois Conference. 

For information visit www.umcnic.org/harvest2020