Harvest Thanksgiving
Sunday 27th September 2020
This year we celebrated Harvest Festival with a service on the village playing field. A version of that service had been recorded in advance and was made available as Worship on the Web. That can be found here.
Harvest Thanksgiving
Deuteronomy 8.7-18
Luke 12.16-30
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
“It’s been a hell of a year so far, one way and another!” I don’t think I have ever heard that sentiment expressed – in various forms – so much as I have this year – 2020.
Ironically, 2020 should have been the year when we could develop our vision for the future; our long-term view; developed strategies and plans. Instead of which it feels like we have been fighting fires, both real and metaphorical, all year and there is little or no prospect of it getting any better any time soon!
The real, physical fires have blazed across Australia, across the Siberian Tundra, are burning even as I speak over much of the Western Seaboard of the United States.
The Metaphorical fire is that of the Coronavirus pandemic that is threatening again to engulf us all.
And with all that going on, our Farmers tell us that this has been one of the hardest years they can recall. Weather has been awful – both too wet and too dry. Crop yields have been disappointing in the main – although I believe the Spring barley picked up a bit. Prices are not good for producers. So it is not easy – this year above all years, to think of things for which we want to give thanks and to do that with any enthusiasm. We cannot even indulge ourselves by belting out the familiar harvest hymns and anthems! (although it is good to have a physical choir back for the first time!)
But this is our Harvest Thanksgiving. There won’t be another one for 12 months, so how can we make the best of it and remind ourselves that – whatever the trials and tribulations we are living through in the short-term, there is still a big picture out there. There is still a kingdom of heaven for which to fight and strive for. There are still plenty of people who have yet to hear and understand that the Gospel message we carry means good news for them too. And that is a beneficial virus that we would do well to spread. Just imagine if faith in Jesus Christ could spread as rapidly as Covid 19?! That may sound a bit blasphemous, but the virus can teach us a thing or two about evangelism! Just imagine if each person ‘infected’ with faith, passed that faith on to two others? And our ‘R’ number would be the number for whom the Resurrection Reality of Jesus Christ had become real for them! Earlier this week we were told that by mid-October the rate of infection could increase to 50,000 per day. That would be a pandemic worth experiencing!
Harvest Festival is the time when we can stop; draw breath; look around and appreciate just how much we have – thanks to God and our hard work. There is the old story about the country vicar who – admiring the productive garden of one of his parishioners exclaimed “ What a very good job you and God have made of that land – a fantastic display!”
“Hah!” Came the somewhat sarcastic response, “you should have seen the mess when God had it all to himself!”
And that is the point of Harvest. Yes, we thank God for his goodness and for the many gifts he has bestowed on us. But we also thank our Farmers for their skill and hard work – skills and labour that have been sorely tried this year. We thank our fishermen for their seamanship and knowledge of the ways of fish. We thank those who work in distribution and haulage for ensuring that shelves do not run out of food – even when we behave in frankly ridiculous and selfish ways – panic buying and stockpiling. We know how dependent we are on all who keep food on our plates, power and heat available to us at the touch of a switch. And this year we also know how dependent we are for our wellbeing on human contact and relationships.
So for all that and more let’s say a big thank you to our Farmers.
Earlier this year we all turned out on Thursday evenings to clap for our key workers in the NHS and caring institutions. It would have been nice if our applause had been backed up with a bit more in the way of financial reward for them – but it felt important at the time to express our regard and thanks in this way. We cannot today sing our thanks to those who work on the land and to God, but let us at least show our respect and regard for the men and women who work the land so that we can be well-fed and watered. Let’s clap for the Farmers!
We know that at times it has felt a thankless task this year to be stewarding the land under very difficult conditions, but we cannot do without you. And you cannot do without Divine providence and blessing on your work. So thanks to the Farmers and thanks be to God!
Amen