The Rector writes . . .
Let the Earth be Glad
Harvest Time
Technically speaking our parish church is located in a suburban part of Warrington. However, take just a short walk from St Wilfrid’s and you will find yourself in the Cheshire countryside.
At this time of the year the fields around Grappenhall are aglow with a multitude of crops, and on Sunday 26th September we have our Annual Harvest Festival
To give thanks for the success of the harvest is as old and as widespread, one may say, as humanity itself - or at least as old as farming. People everywhere feel it natural and right to give thanks for the gifts showered upon them, filling our needs and providing the necessities of life
This thanksgiving is a recognition that we all have needs, and that the means to meet the needs are provided by the Creator. It is an acknowledgement that, clever as we are, we need the Creator.
Our acknowledgement should express itself in giving part of our harvest back to the Creator. It’s at our harvest services we offer a wide variety of gifts. Indeed some of the most generous gifts come to us via the children and families of St Wilfrid’s Church school in the village. And what a range of gifts they bring - from wheat, flour and bread itself, the staple and staff of life, through all kinds of tinned and packaged goods. Fruit and flowers from local gardens. Produce, it sometimes seems, that come from all the corners of the earth.
Thanksgiving
The title ‘Harvest Festival’ which is often used, is of course perfectly all right, but it does miss out, perhaps, one important issue. The often used term, ‘Harvest Thanksgiving‘.
We are to give, not just rejoice and be happy in a prettily decorated church with familiar old hymns. Thanksgiving means giving, and so we gather to offer our gifts to God, to present them for his use.
As the old Prayer book Thanksgiving says, we thank God ‘for our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life’ At harvest we bring before Him our gifts in recognition of His gifts. At St Wilfrid’s the harvest gifts are distributed the next day following our harvest services, usually to the sick and elderly.
Spiritual?
There are some people who tell us that the Church should never ask for money. ‘You should concentrate on spiritual matters not money’ Of course we hold the spiritual side in great esteem through our services our prayers and our meditations - but it is not possible to separate body, mind and spirit; all three are interdependent, all three rely on each other, all three affect each other. A gain - or a loss - in one affects the others.
Similarly, we cannot separate the worship of God from our offering to God of what we have, of what we are. Both are needed, they are interdependent.
And so at harvest we offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, in thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and the fruits of our labour.
St Francis of Assisi 1182 - 1226 wrote this beautiful poem.
‘Blessed are you, my Lord, for the gifts of all your creatures; and
Especially for our brother the Sun, by whom the day is enlightened.
He is radiant and very bright, of great splendour, bearing witness
You, O my God.
Blessed are you, my Lord, for our sisters the Moon and the Stars;
You have placed them high in the heavens, fair and clear.
Blessed are you, my Lord, for our brother the Wind; for the air, for
Clouds and for calm, for every kind of weather; for by them you
Sustain all creatures.
Blessed are you, my Lord, for our sister Water, she is so very useful,
So humble, chaste and precious.
Blessed are you, my Lord, for our Brother Fire; he is gay, noble and
Beautiful, untameable and strong; by him you illuminate the night.
Blessed are you, my Lord, for our Mother the Earth; she sustains and nourishes us, and brings forth all kinds of fruits, herbs, grains and also bright-hued flowers.
Love of the Earth
St Francis’ poem tells us exactly how he felt about the earth and what a great and precious treasure he considered it to be. A part of the great and wonderful universe, so vast and so mysterious - yet created by our God, whom we know to be a God of love and care.
Yours sincerely
Malcolm B. Kelly
