Sermon preached by the Reverend Canon Philip Banks
on Sunday 12 October 2014
Harvest Festival 2014
Readings: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 and Matthew 25:31-40
It won't have escaped your notice each year that Cranmer's1662 Book of
Common Prayer makes no reference to Harvest Festival - and that the hymns
we associate as being traditional 'harvest' hymns are of course Victorian or
relatively modern. It is well documented that it wasn't until the mid
19th-century that harvest festivals became a regular feature of the liturgical
calendar.
A much earlier and authentic tradition which pre-dates the 1662 Prayer Book
is Rogation (with prayers at the start of the agricultural year for good weather
and a good crop) and Lammas-tide (the celebration of the first fruits of the
crops usually in July or early August as the harvest began, with the making of a
first loaf with the newly harvested grain).
So Harvest is a bit of a liturgical muddle. Yet we do celebrate it. And in a county
with such varied and rich agriculture, forestry and significant coastal waters, it is
quite right that we should. For three reasons at least.
First it is good to be thankful. Being a thankful person is part of what it
means to be a Christian, part of what it means to be a whole person. The word
'Eucharist' - the original word in the early church for the Holy Communion simply means 'giving thanks'. Everyone has in them the capacity for and a sense
of thankfulness; there's not a culture in the world which does not teach its
children to be thankful.
To be thankfuk is to be human.
So on this Harvest Festival day, meeting as we do before God, in the beauty of
our Cathedral church and surrounded by harvest decorations, let us be
thankful people.
That leads on to the second reason to celebrate Harvest. As we thank
God for the bounty of creation, we also acknowledge and thank those who
bring food and water to our tables - from farmers and fishermen, to those who
work in transport and logistics, and shops and cooks ... the list is endless.
In doing so we recognise our interdependence - and in doing that we extend
our thankfulness for the labour of others - whether the virtues of science or
the skills of teamwork or those in a field - it doesn't matter - we rely on others
for our daily bread.
To remember our inter-dependence is to think of others - and so extend our
thankfulness beyond our creator God, and to be thankful for our neighbors
too.
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So: 1-thankfulness, and 2-recognising our interdependence; and the third
reason to celebrate Harvest goes to the core of our Christian faith
articulated in our readings today. As we receive so much at God's hand, so we
should be reminded of our call to give something back - to play our part in
making the world a better and fairer place, reflecting the values of God's
kingdom.
The world feels very precarious just now: the Ebola crisis, typhoons threatening
the world's poorest peoples, the cruelty of ISIS, the situation in the Ukraine and
Gaza - you may have other concerns in your prayers too. How do we help,
and contribute to making the world a better place?
So I leave you with a story.
The ancient wisdom of the Jewish rabbinic tradition tells the tale of a rabbi who
disappeared every Sabbath-eve - 'to commune with God in the forest' so his
congregation understood. So, one Sabbath-eve they appointed one of their cantors to
follow the rabbi and check up on him, and observe this holy encounter. Deeper and
deeper into the forest the rabbi went - until he reached the small cottage of an old
Gentile woman who was sick almost to death, and crippled with arthritis into a painful
posture. Once there, the rabbi cooked for her and carried her firewood and swept the
floors. Then, when the chores were finished, he returned to his little house next to the
synagogue. Back in the village the people demanded of the one they'd sent to follow
and observe the rabbi: "did the rabbi go up to heaven, as we thought?"
"Oh no", the cantor replied after a thoughtful pause, "our rabbi went much higher and
closer to God".
How do I go higher and closer to God?
In what ways do you go higher and closer to God?
Will the Lord say to you or to me "when I was thirsty you gave me sometging
to drink. When I was hungry you fed me. When I was naked you clothed me.
When I was sick or in prison you visited me"?
Do I, do you, have the gift of love described in the first reading? - am I patient,
am I kind, bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things.
Philip Banks 2014
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