Harvest - The Forgotten Celebration

Peter Baker | 21:07, 7th October 2012

There's always a leap required for city-dwellers when it comes to Harvest. But we deny ourselves so much if we disconnect thankfulness for the food on our table from the soil from which it comes and the God who gives the rain and the sun.

Harvest gives us the opportunity to celebrate the fact that creation is a wonderfully balanced and interdependent reality. Life, breath and daily food must not be taken for granted. So the next time you are piling stuff onto your plate at meal time or filling your shopping trolley, stop and be thankful for the shop that sells it, the farmers who produced it, the seasons that nurture it and the God who makes it all happen from beginning to end.

But there's more. For creation, though beautiful, is broken. Inequalities amd injustices exist. There is still enough for everyone's need but not their greed. So Harvest helps us recognise that and celebrate another kind of interdependence. We eat and we share what we have. We live perhaps more simply so that others may simply live.

Our carbon footprint on the planet is monitored and our stewardship of the environment is cultivated. For that's what we are in God's creation - stewards, not owners. Attitudes to possessions change with that perspective. We hold onto things lightly. We are generous with all that God has given us to enjoy. So two reasons to celebrate Harvest. This is God's world - be thankful! We are stewards - be generous!

We would love you to join us to celebrate Harvest at Monthermer Road at 10.30am on Sunday 14th October