Generous God, Abundant Harvest

Harvest is a time when we remember and celebrate and enjoy abundance - abundance of crop and produce, abundance of nature, and abundance in feasting and celebrating together.

The only problem is that this year, it’s hard to remember a time of real abundance and celebration. The last few years have been marked more by tears and loneliness, and for some suffering and grief. It sometimes feels like the Locust has been through our physical, spiritual and emotional resources, eating away at the feeling of contentment and flourishing. This may not be everyone’s experience, but I know it has been experience of many, including young people and the older residents of our community, especially those who live on their own.

A couple of weeks ago I was out walking in Stanway and I happened upon a farmer ploughing one field, opposite to another farmer harvesting and stacking bales of hay. This is a really vivid illustration of both preparation for a new crop and harvesting a mature crop. The birds were loving both the ploughing and harvesting, scooping down to catch a worm or enjoy a flying insect.

Today I reflect on the words of Joel, which speak not only of the years that the locust has eaten, but also, prophetically, of the abundance of the harvest that is yet to come. These words were written, not when Judah was flourishing, but when it was undergoing a really difficult time - when they were under attack, and no harvest was in sight. Joel uses the metaphor of locusts, stripping the land bare, but in these verses he talks about restoration, of abundant harvest, and of the years that the Locust has eaten being repayed.

Joel 2.21-27

21 Do not fear, O soil;

   be glad and rejoice,

   for the Lord has done great things!

22 Do not fear, you animals of the field,

   for the pastures of the wilderness are green;

the tree bears its fruit,

   the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

23 O children of Zion, be glad

   and rejoice in the Lord your God;

for he has given the early rain for your vindication,

   he has poured down for you abundant rain,

   the early and the later rain, as before.

24 The threshing-floors shall be full of grain,

   the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 I will repay you for the years

   that the swarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

   my great army, which I sent against you.

26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

   and praise the name of the Lord your God,

   who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

This harvest time, what will you ask God to restore to you? What harvest would you like to reap in your own life? What abundance do you long to see in our community and our church?

Together let us pray to the Lord of the harvest to come and restore the years that the locust has eaten, bringing fruitfulness, abundance and a harvest of blessing in ourselves, our families, our church and our community.

Collect for Harvest Sunday

Eternal God,

you crown the year with your goodness

and you give us the fruits of the earth in their season:

grant that we may use them to your glory,

for the relief of those in need and for our own well-being;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

The Rev. Wendy Pagden