HARVEST FESTIVAL - HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED!

Most of the Harvest Festivals I remember as a child were very different to the ones held in Churches today.  Years ago, there was always an abundance of fruit and vegetables, much of which came from our own gardens, or those of our grandparents.

Fruit and vegetables were seen not only in front of the pulpit - and I attended our present Church when  I was a little girl, when there was a pulpit in the middle - but also along the windowsills, with plenty of Chrysanthemums and other Autumn flowers, with perhaps just one or two tins of peas and carrots.  After the service, the produce was given to older people in the neighbourhood or Church Members who were either too old to come to the services or who were in need, and of course, in those days, they couldn’t watch on Zoom or Facebook, but I’m sure they were delighted to receive a gift to remind them of the harvest that had been celebrated at Church.

The thing I remember most from my childhood Harvest Festivals though, were the harvest “smells” and also the huge loaves of bread formed into the shape of corn sheaves, standing against the Communion Table that was almost sagging with the weight of the produce on it.  I never did get to hear what happened to those!

And of course, we always sang the old Harvest hymns, “Come, Ye Thankful People Come, Raise the Song of Harvest Home”, We Plough the Fields and Scatter the good seed on the land” and “To Thee, O Lord, our Hearts we Raise”.  In fact it wouldn’t have seemed like Harvest if we hadn’t sung those - and of course, not forgetting the children’s favourite, often sung before they went out to their Sunday School classes, “All Things Bright and Beautiful”.  

We heard a challenging sermon by Mary Wakeham today, a visiting preacher, who said she wondered if we had lost sight of our traditional seasons and whether we were so detached from rural living that as we celebrate Harvest Sunday, it had lost a lot of its meaning.  She emphasised the need to be  much more aware of climate change and taking care of our world and of course, this is true, not just for those of us in the Church but everyone on this planet.  

We also heard from Steve, who was leading the service, about “Operation Agri”, a development charity that helps some of the world’s most disadvantaged people improve their lives.  We watched a video entitled “Vital Vegetables for Mozambique”, in which women were learning to do market gardening thus greatly improving the lives of their families.  According to their website, “A variety of overseas projects is supported – agriculture, water, women’s empowerment, skills training, and basic health clinics.  The love of Jesus is shown in action, supporting needy communities to attack the basic causes of poverty, regardless of their religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.”  So instead of bringing produce to decorate the Church, we were encouraged to give generously to this project.

We did sing the first two Harvest hymns mentioned above, but we also sang a couple of more modern ones - including the one below written by Fred Kaan, originally from the Netherlands, but who was an ordained Congregational, and later United Reformed, Minister in the UK.  He wrote many hymns addressing issues of peace and justice during his life and this particular hymn was said by him to be probably the most widely used hymn he had ever written. He wrote it to mark Human Rights Day, 10th December, 1965 – hence the title he gave it: “A Hymn on Human Rights”, which has some telling words, even though it was written almost 60 years ago.

This Harvest celebration photograph was taken this morning at Church, consisting of a beautiful floral display and just a few items of fresh fruit and vegetables, with some tinned vegetables.  There is also a jug of water, a precious commodity, not only in the UK but also in many other countries which have suffered droughts for much longer than the few months we did, and a telling reminder that we need to share the harvest in a just and equal way.

For the healing of the nations,
     Lord, we pray with one accord;
for a just and equal sharing
     of the things that earth affords.
To a life of love in action
     help us rise and pledge our word.

Lead your people into freedom,
     from despair your world release,
that, redeemed from war and hatred,
     all may come and go in peace.
Show us how, through care and goodness,
     fear will die and hope increase.

All that kills abundant living,
let it from the earth be banned:
pride of status, race or schooling,
dogmas that obscure your plan.
In our common quest for justice
may we hallow life's brief span.

You, Creator-God, have written
     your great name on humankind;
for our growing in your likeness,
     bring the life of Christ to mind;
that by our response and service
     earth its destiny may find.