“We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand.”
Most of us will have sung that lovely Harvest hymn for most of our lives. I can remember singing it in Primary School as we celebrated marrows and tins of beans. Being a ‘townie’ harvest was for me not much to do with fresh crops it was more to do with packets and tins. In fact my Primary School was in earshot of Huntley Bourne and Stevens the tin makers for Huntley and Palmers biscuits. It was an industrial harvest that I knew as a child. It was going to church that reminded me that Harvest was about more than tins of vegetables; and that it was about all the many good things that God gives us. And, that it was not something we should never take for granted.
For many of us before we probably didn’t give much thought to where our food comes from. if we look carefully at the labels it can be from the overside of the world!. I try to buy Scottish or British grown fresh and packaged goods in an attempt to support our farmers and fishermen and if not then I buy fair-trade goods that treat overseas producers fairly. I long ago realised that if it is not in stock I can use something else that is in season. Harvest is not only about giving thanks for the bounty of the Earth that God gives its should also challenge us to pledge ourselves to treading lightly amongst Creation so that everyone has a fair share of its gifts now and that those who follow us will have more than enough left to feed themselves and their descendants.