{"id":3339,"date":"2019-09-22T11:29:24","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T11:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=3339"},"modified":"2019-09-22T11:29:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T11:29:24","slug":"sermon-22nd-september-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-22nd-september-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 22nd September 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvest Festival \u2013 morning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 22nd September 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Harvest Festival \u2013 morning
\nDeut 26. 1-11
\nJohn 6. 25-35<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll good gifts around us are sent from heaven above!\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNow that is an easy sentiment\nto sing or to pray here this Sunday morning with all these wonderful\narrangements around us in church and the Lady Chapel full of the\ngifts that the children brought here on Friday! But how often do you\nthink that thought standing in the queue at Sainsbury\u2019s, or the\nCo-Op, or Aldi or Lidl or even Waitrose! (other food retailers are\navailable!) I know I don\u2019t \u2013 but perhaps I should? And even if\nthe thought occasionally crosses our minds, I bet it doesn\u2019t occur\nto many other people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWe simply don\u2019t see\nourselves as beneficiaries of gifts, but as purchasers of\ncommodities. Not sent from heaven, but delivered to our supermarket\nor to our doors by Amazon or Ocado (other delivery services are\navailable!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFarmers and keen gardeners are\nmore directly dependent on the elemental forces of nature, the\nweather, seasonal variations and the natural world, than the rest of\nus. And that close connection with nature can lead to feelings of\ngratitude and even wonder and awe. But it exposes the unpredictable\ncharacter of nature and the natural order \u2013 and one that (thanks to\nclimate change) may become even more unpredictable in future!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe gospel tells us not to be\nconcerned with food, drink or clothing. Try telling that to the\nincreasing numbers of people that are forced to turn to Food Banks in\nour modern, prosperous economy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nRecently a report was\npublished saying that people still wanted their children to\nexperience a traditional Harvest Festival in school \u2013 and I am\npleased to tell you that our local schoolchildren do just that! There\nis something warm and nostalgic about Harvest celebrations, recalling\nimages of an idyllic rural past. But surely for Christians, Harvest\nshould be about more than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nRichard Dawkins \u2013 seemingly\nthis country\u2019s professional atheist, has a new book out and i heard\nhim being interviewed on the Radio on Friday. He is predictably\nscathing about the idea of a God and anything the Bible might have to\ntell us. For a clever man and I believe a considerable expert when it\ncomes to the science of Biology, he talks a great deal of nonsense\nwhenever he turns to matters of faith and religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWhat I would like to share\nwith you from my own observations and study is that God is not some\nkind of control freak, masterminding the movement of tides and winds,\ndecreeing that this place will have good weather and that place will\nhave poor conditions ; that this people will have plenty, while that\nnation starves. The world is not just running its course like some\nover-wound and faulty clock, left to itself. Creation did not just\nhappen once, but God goes on creating and inviting us to share in\nthat process. He is like the composer or playwright in residence-\nre-working, re-creating as we go. The world is being held in being,\nday by day, minute by minute. To quote the poet Gerard Manley\nHopkins, \u201cThere\nlives the dearest freshness deep down things<\/em>.\u201d\nAnd people of faith claim that great climactic events, like the\nExodus, the life of Jesus, the resurrection etc. are unmistakeable\nclues reveal God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIt\u2019s just that most of the\ntime he remains anonymous or we fail to recognise him. He is like the\ngenerous by rather shy benefactor who stands behind and with and\nunder his creation, but he doesn\u2019t leave post-it notes or\nsignatures reminding us to thank him, just hints and glimpses. And\nhis love means that he even gives us the freedom to forget him \u2013\neven to doubt his goodness and reality. He does not even deprive us\nof his gifts when we fail to give him thanks and treat them as though\nwe are entitled to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nDo you know the story about\nthe Man who wanted to see and hear God? He went to a hilltop and\nyelled and pleaded with God, \u201cSpeak to me!\u201d \u2013 but all he heard\nwas the song of a bird. So he tried again \u2013 and all he could hear\nwas the sound of children playing in the distance. \u201cPlease God,\ntouch me!\u201d he cried \u2013 and the wind blew across his cheek. By now,\nfeeling thoroughly discouraged at not having his pleas answered, the\nman prayed. \u201cGod, show yourself to me!\u201d and a butterfly flew\nacross his path. And when he arrived home, feeling utterly abandoned\nand forsaken by God, his daughter ran out to meet him and threw her\narms around him \u2013 but he still felt abandoned by God. Seen aright,\nalmost anything can be a gift from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWhen we pick up a tin of\nbeans, or soup, or smell the scent of a sharp autumn morning, we may\nnot immediately think of God. But the inherent fruitfulness of the\nland, the variations of the seasons and weather, the labours of\nfarmers, distributors, retailers etc., and the fact that there is a\nworld at all rather than nothing, and the fact that we \u2013 of all\npeople \u2013 are alive and blessed, and that this is a new day, is\ncause for living thankfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nGod\u2019s gifts flow to us, but\nthey should not stop there \u2013 they must be passed on, which is what\nwe try to do at harvest time especially \u2013 but which needs to happen\nall year round. Ghandi said, \u201cto those without food, bread is the\nonly form in which God dares to appear.\u201d The hungry are doubly\ndeprived; deprived of food, and of the opportunity to rejoice in\nGod\u2019s provision. Food is political with a small \u2018p\u2019, and our\ngiving takes the form of political choices and actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nHarvest, therefore invites us\nto see life not just as a given, but as a gift. And if we can do\nthat, if life is seen as a gift that is free, unconditional and\nundeserved, our life and our view of life will change for ever. We\u2019ll\nrecognise the Giver, behind the Gift, and love him for the sake of\nGodself. And we will be channels of his gifts to others. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harvest Festival \u2013 morning Sunday 22nd September 2019 Harvest Festival \u2013 morning Deut 26. 1-11 John 6. 25-35 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs \u201cAll good gifts around us are sent from heaven above!\u201d Now that is an easy sentiment to sing or to pray here this Sunday morning with all these wonderful arrangements around us in … <\/p>\n

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