The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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It’s the time of the year when many churches gather together to celebrate Harvest. When I was a child this meant the local farmers and gardeners bringing produce to church, and to praise and thank God that all ‘was safely gathered in’. The goods were then distributed to the needy of the parish. Sadly for many today eating fresh fruit and vegetables means a trip to the supermarket without any thought for those involved in the production of their food or thanking God for the harvest. At Holy Rood we recently celebrated Harvest and I would like to share with you a short meditation read during this service based on a reading from Mark’s Gospel, and I would encourage all of you to think about the production of the food you buy and eat. Mark 4:26-29 Jesus said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces corn—first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Lord, you make it sound all very simple - “Scatter the seed and then go to bed and sleep.” No mention of soil analysis, market analysis, subsidy payments analysis. No mention of buying the machinery or hiring the contractor. Then there’s choosing the crop and the variety, ploughing, rolling, harrowing, enriching the soil with fertilisers, top dressing, weed control, pest control .... You make no mention of what to do with the field margins, maintaining the hedges, promoting the wildlife, and jumping through the hoops and filling in the forms to qualify for environmental payments. No, it’s simply, “Scatter the seed” and then, “All by itself the soil produces corn.” Then all we have to do is harvest it. No mention of the chance that, despite all your best efforts, you might not make a living. A living you might make, but living things you receive as gift, as you also receive the conditions for growth - warmth, water, nutrients ... and that life force which flows against the energy dissipating tide of the universe. Humanity can select and modify the species of life; humanity can, by continual efforts, conform the distribution of the species to serve the food needs of the people of the planet; humanity can organise the rewards for being part of this great enterprise in a way that promotes the values of the society. So many things humanity can do, humanity has done, but humanity can’t make the life you are born into and born out of. The miracle of life is a continuum from which you can never stand apart and say, “This is my work.” But you can co-operate, using the gifts, the warmth, the water, the nutrients, using the developments the techniques and the technology and you can grow a crop, to feed the hungry and the not so hungry. And when it comes to the harvest you can feel satisfied and thankful. And perhaps it is also possible that a satisfied society can feel thankful too, thankful enough to worship God the giver of good food and also to reward his earthly agent, the farmer.
Judy Hill Associate Priest
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