From the Vicarage - October
I still remember my delight as a child growing up alongside the Lincolnshire fields, when I became aware of the introduction of the large round-shaped hay or straw bales, in contrast to the square ones I had been used to seeing. We quickly called them the farmer’s giant sausage rolls!
Harvest comes in all shapes and sizes, and not just the bales. The safe gathering in of the produce being transported by tractors and trailers during the summer months, is perhaps what we immediately think of when we use the word harvest. But alongside our very visible crops of wheat and barley, oats and oilseed rape, are the harvests of fruit, vegetables, herbs and the recent addition of wildflower farms and meadows.
In our Churches too, harvest is a season – albeit perhaps a short one and, some may say, one we tend to celebrate a little ‘after the event’, if we are referring to the harvest of cereal crops. The modern-day Harvest Festival is often spoken of as the invention of a 19th century Cornish clergyman who called people to a special service to give thanks for the harvest and to bring gifts to share with others. But in fact, it was not a wholly new idea at all.
Some of the most ancient writings in our Bible tell us that this call, if not command, to pause and be thankful for harvest was deeply embedded into the rhythm of life and the practice of faith communities. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel celebrated three major harvest festivals - the harvests of barley, wheat and grapes. These occasions were not just agricultural milestones; they were acts of worship, thanksgiving and justice, where the people brought their first fruits, remembering both God's provision and the needs of their neighbours. Way back in some of our Old Testament writings, we hear how these ancient people and communities were required to adhere to the law of gleaning - “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 23.22)
Harvest Festival will be kept in St Oswalds, Collingham on Sunday 4th October – a time once again to give thanks for the harvest, and for all who faithfully grow and gather, transport and process. It is also an opportunity to give thanks to God our Creator for his provision and love, and it is a time to remember those who still in modern-times only get to ‘glean’ the little – the little they can afford, or the little left-over from the plenty others enjoy.
Come and be thankful and come and bring you harvest gifts;
gifts which show welcome and kindness
to those often pushed to the edges of our fields / society and who only get to ‘glean’!
Love & Prayers
Carolyn
The Reverend Carolyn A James
