MINISTERS MUSINGS

 

September 2010 Musing

Harvest

September is the month of Harvest Festival when we give thanks for the safe gathering of corn and crops. At one time churches were decorated with sheaves of corn, rosy apples, a mountain of vegetables and of course, the harvest loaf. Now in this age of combine harvesters sheaves of corn are a rare commodity. Instead most churches will be decorated with tins, packages and boxes of food destined for a charity or transportation to a part of the world where harvests are meagre.

Harvest thanksgiving has its roots deep in the Old Testament. It is recorded in Deuteronomy that the Israelites were commanded by Moses to keep the feast of harvest by bringing an offering 7 weeks from the beginning of corn cutting. In this country from Saxon times until the middle ages it was customary to bring to church bread made from the first ripe corn to be blessed and used for the sacrament. This was on August 1st and was known as ‘Loaf Mass’ or ‘Lammas’. The custom died out but in 1843 Rev S Hawker, vicar of Morwenstowe in Cornwall decided to bring sheaves of corn to decorate the church at Harvest Thanksgiving. The idea caught on and this service now has a regular yearly spot in the calendar.

In these days of concern for sharing our bounty, we must not forget the importance of giving God thanks for the wonder of harvest. It is a wonderful outcome of man and God working together in the yearly cycle of sowing, growing and reaping. So it is fitting that we continue to sing the old harvest hymns as well as the modern ones. We need to remind ourselves also that we ourselves are part of God’s harvest when we too are ‘gathered in’. So ‘come ye thankful people, come.’