‘Seedtime and Harvest’
‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ - so September and autumn come round once again. A previous career in teaching still makes me think in terms of September as the start of the ‘New Year’ - just as Jewish people all over the world have recently celebrated their New Year.
The return from holiday sees the end of summer and the first signs of the coming season - ‘misty and moisty’ mornings, the departure of the squadrons of swifts, screaming and soaring overhead and the inevitable drawing in of the evenings.
For the Church, this is the season and celebration of Harvest. Long gone are the days when a rural congregation would come together to sing: ‘Come, ye thankful people, come…all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin’, knowing they had been doing just that in the previous weeks. Now it’s more about ‘come, ye Tesco people, come, fill your trolley then drive home.
But, come harvest, Christians the world over, whatever their status will come together again to acknowledge that: ‘all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all his love.’ And so we will do just that. And whether the church be decked out in a full harvest display of fruit and veg, flowers and all the trimmings, or with just a few tins and packets, still the same thankfulness will be there.
It is a gratitude to the God of the Harvest and also a reminder to us all in these times of concern over global warming and overall care for our planet, that as those made in God’s image, so we are charged by the Creator to be good stewards of all that he gives us - and also to share our plenty with those who have less.
As a working Minister, I never tire of those special times and seasons within the church calendar - even though they do seem to come round again with increasing rapidity! Each seasonal celebration is another waymark along the journey to which God calls and guides us.
‘We thank you then, our Father, for all things bright and good, the seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food. Accept the gifts we offer for all your love imparts, and what you find more precious, our humble, thankful hearts.’
