St Clement Church
Harvest Community Service
Good morning
We are celebrating Harvest today. We will give thanks for farmers, fishermen and all those who produce our food. But, as our Gospel reading reminds us, Harvest is much more than that. We must pray for ‘enough’ for all peoples of the world and we must work for the harvest that God wants.
My love to you all
Liz
We meet as a family in the presence of our heavenly Father. We meet as brothers and sisters in Christ, accepting the responsibility that this places upon us, to love one another as you have loved us. We meet as your lights in this dark world, and pray that through our words and our lives others may be drawn into your family, and accept you as their Saviour and Lord. Amen
We say together:
In the meeting of our lives, be the focus of all that we are.
In the singing of the hymns, the prayers that we shall make, the reading of your Word and the preaching of the same.
Speak to us, encourage and forgive us.
In the meeting of our lives, Lord, be the focus of all that we are.
Amen
Hymn: 732 We plough the fields and scatter (Mission Praise)
Harvest Prayer of Confession
We confess our sin, and the sins of society, in the misuse of God’s creation.
God our Father, we are sorry for the times when we have used your gifts carelessly, and acted ungratefully.
Hear our prayer, and in your mercy: forgive us and help us.
We enjoy the fruits of the harvest, but sometimes forget that you have given them to us.
Father, in your mercy: forgive us and help us.
We belong to a people who are full and satisfied, but ignore the cry of the hungry.
Father, in your mercy: forgive us and help us.
We are thoughtless, and do not care enough for the world you have made.
Father, in your mercy: forgive us and help us.
We store up goods for ourselves alone, as if there were no God and no heaven.
Father, in your mercy: forgive us and help us.
Amen
The Collect for Harvest
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 forever. Amen
Readings:
Deuteronomy 28. 1 - 14
2 Corinthians 9. 6 - 15
Hymn: 106 Come ye thankful people come
Gospel: Luke12. 16 - 30
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
Jesus told the people a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?”
The he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink and be merry.’”
But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.
Of how much more value are you than the birds!
And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
But if God clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you – you of little faith!
And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.
For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.’
(This is the Gospel of our Lord. Praise to you, O Christ)
Reflection
Today we are celebrating our Harvest Festival as many churches do at this time of year. Some of us were at St Allen’s a week ago. As a child, they were all about giving thanks for God’s gifts by singing the traditional hymns and by bringing gifts to offer our thanks for God’s goodness to us. I well remember my mother packing a box with all sorts of fruit and vegetables and covering it in cellophane for me to take to church to offer as my gift of thanks.
Those of us brought up in rural counties, especially in Cornwall, have always known from where the wheat for bread, the broccoli and other vegetables and the meat and fish we eat … sorry Di … come. But, if you were brought up in a big city, certainly in my younger days, food came from a shop or supermarket and you didn’t necessarily know its origin or how it was made.
I well remember as a student, two girls from Manchester, coming up to a group of us one morning, saying that they had seen the most strange-looking birds but they didn’t know what they were. One of the boys said that he would go with them and see if he could identify them. About half an hour later the three returned with the boy helpless with laughter and the two girls looking very puzzled. Can anyone guess what they had seen? Chickens … ‘But chickens don’t have feathers and they come from Tesco wrapped in plastic!’ was the girls’ comment. It was the 60s.
But even now, many children, and indeed adults, don’t know from where their food comes or how it is made. It’s there on the supermarkets’ shelves, that’s all that matters. But it isn’t, is it … think of the men and women here in Cornwall, in the rest of the UK and indeed across the world who work long hours to provide the food, or the ingredients of food, that we eat. It is often hard labour and then those that buy the goods they produce want to buy them as cheaply as possible. So, for many they barely break even. We’re all guilty of wanting to buy things as cheaply as we can and we look for the supermarket price wars.
As we become much more aware of what is happening around us and across the world, celebrating harvest nowadays, is often much more about the impact of our consuming on creation rather than just straight harvest thanksgiving. As we give our thanks here in church, we need to be much more aware of the world in which we live. We cannot give thanks for all that God has given in the harvest if we don’t think about how many do not get to share the harvests of our world and the impact our living is having on the created order. Our climate crisis and harvest thanksgiving have to go side by side.
Everyone needs ‘enough.’ ‘Enough’ is where every single person on our planet can thrive – living with dignity, equality and sufficient resources – without decimating the planet’s boundaries. With enough each of us learns how to live in the natural limits of our lives, and this sets us free to flourish. ‘Enough’ is not about always being bigger or having more. Enough connects us to the planet that we share and is about a state of being and way of living.
I am sure most of you know the story of the Hungry Caterpillar. It’s about a baby caterpillar that is very hungry when it’s born. Every week he munches his way through as much food as he can to satisfy its hunger, until he eats too much and can finally eat no more! Then he lies down to rest and when he wakes, he realises that all he needs is one leaf and he is fine. In the end, the caterpillar settles down and builds a cocoon around itself, and of course we know what happens after that: he finally emerges from the cocoon transformed into a beautiful butterfly.
The thing is, that very hungry caterpillar is a consumer, just like we are. And just like us, when we are enjoying our consuming, he struggled to know when he had had enough!
As people connected to all of creation we should be noticing when we have had enough. We must also notice that many people do not have enough and many places are paying the price for our greed. We can’t go on ‘munching’ through the precious resources of our planet simply because we want more of something we enjoy.
In our gospel reading today, Jesus tells us a story of someone who acquired great wealth from the land, a harvest that meant there was constantly more food than could be consumed. So, he decides to store it up for the future in ever bigger barns and storehouses. There are great plans for some future ‘bash,’ eating, drinking and being merry. But on the verge of living the dream with everything he needs, the man’s life on this earth comes to an end. “The thing is,” God says to him, “You’ve chosen to make your life about stuff.” The problem with that is if that’s all you think about, well, there’ll just never be enough. A harvest picture, if you like, of how not to go about dealing with what you gather in.
By way of contrast, Jesus then paints the opposite picture. An example from nature, of how birds and flowers flourish without the sorts of human concerns that our earlier friend had. It’s there to make a point.
The point is not that we shouldn’t carefully sew seed, tend crops, gather them in and store sufficient prudently for the future, whether for ourselves or others. Wise farmers will do exactly these things … and haven’t the farmers had it tough this year.
Rather, the point is what happens if we’re only ever thinking of tomorrow? Are we only ever concerned with accumulating to store things up for another day? If we are, then the parable tells us there are consequences.
As I look round this church, I am aware that access to food, having enough to eat, and wanting to celebrate harvest are more poignant now than ever. Our harvest donations will go to support our local Food Bank, one of many foodbanks nationwide experiencing huge demand. Just as much as we must pray, so real, practical, tangible support is vital.
The parable tells us something else. The story of the foolish friend makes clear what God wants us not to do, what to avoid. Who we are, our worth, doesn’t come from acquiring anything. There’s nothing to be gained from storing up treasures for ourselves that in the end will be given away, passed on, sold, stolen, donated or thrown out in the rubbish … most of which I am experiencing now, as I move into a compact new home. But how … how we use things, giving thanks for everything in our care, and for what we have … sharing what we have, caring for those around us, gives us the richest kind of harvest imaginable. It’s a wealth that uses no storage space, doesn’t need to be worried about, insured, managed or guarded.
This harvest time, there is much to tell us that that all is not well with the world. Let us live humbly so that we will learn to live with enough.
Think of a world without any hunger, think of a world without any war.
Think of a world where no one hoards their treasure,
Think of a world where no one asks for more.
We pray dear God, for wisdom and for courage to live our lives within your world today.
May we know the truth of ‘enough’ this week.
Amen
Let us say together:
God, giver of all life and of our lives,
Blessed are You in the fruits of the earth
Blessed are You in the works of human hands
Blessed are You in the harvest of human creativity.
God of the poor and hungry,
Blessed are You in the striving for justice
Blessed are You in the fragility of peace-making
Blessed are You in the grace of hospitality.
God of the great feast and the simple meal,
Blessed are You in the sowing of the seed
Blessed are You in the breaking of the bread
Blessed are You in the sharing if the bread
Blessed are you in our daily bread.
Amen
Let us declare our faith in God
We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love.
We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high.
We believe in one God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen
Hymn: 152 For the beauty of the earth
Our Intercessions by Helen Dunbar
Dear Lord, at this harvest time we thank you for all the good things you give us every day.
As we thank you for our food, we remember all those who do not have enough for even one proper meal each day. Bless all of those, Lord, who suffer, because of the greed of others. Help us to share the harvests of the world more fairly so everyone can be fed and there will be no more starvation.
We thank you for the hard work of all those who grow, protect and prepare our food; for the shopkeepers, delivery drivers, the processors and the farmers. Bless all those, Lord, who do not earn a fair day’s pay for their hard work both at home and in other countries. Help us to want to buy local produce and fairly traded goods wherever we can so that everyone can work with dignity and there will be no more poverty. We also pray for those who struggle to get land or have been forced off the land they need to be able to plant and grow enough food, for those who have had to abandon land because of conflict and have had to leave crops un-harvested.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
At this harvest time we thank you for the world around us; for the sunshine and the rain, for fertile soil leading to a bountiful harvest, for the flowers, the trees and the animals. Bless all those who care for them, Lord. Help us to protect your creation by being careful about how we use your resources so that there will be clean water, clean air and plenty of wild birds, mammals and insects to maintain the ecological balance of our countryside.
We give thanks for all that is good in your creation and all who bring in the harvest of the sea and the land. We are conscious of so much we get wrong, so we give thanks too for your grace and patience with us when we fail to look after your world as we should. Help us to change so that we become a new creation walking in the light of your Gospel.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
An acrostic prayer of thanksgiving
Happy are those who have bread to eat!
As grain grows in the fields and
Rains bring the water of life we share
Visions of all your people united in
Eternal praise and kneaded together to
Share good news of justice and peace:
Taste and see that the Lord is good!
We pray for governments and aid agencies and those areas of the world where there is disaster, drought and starvation.
By the grace of your spirit,
touch our hearts,
and the hearts of all who live in comfortable plenty;
and make us wise stewards of your gifts.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
We pray for the Christian Church, for all who preach and teach the Christian faith; we ask your blessing on our own Reverend Diane and her family and Father David
We pray for King Charles and Queen Camilla and all members of our Royal family.
Dear Lord, we bring before you those in need of your healing and love. Comfort the sick, the bereaved and the suffering with your healing and living presence. We especially pray for: Ken and Reverend Diane, Sabie, Brian, Susan, Daphne and David, Dot, Pam and David, Mary, Michael and Patricia, Sandra, Alison and Rob, Jeremy, Anita and Stephen, Callum and Elaine, Barbara, Roger and Helen, Lorrie, Jeanette and David, Kate, Katharine, Margaret, Sue and Martin and all who have no one to pray for them.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Lord, we remember those who have died recently in the peace of Christ; both those who have confessed the faith and those whose faith is known to you alone, and grant us with them a share in your eternal kingdom.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
From our anniversaries book we remember: Denise Thomas, Bertram Wye and Frank Smith
Rejoicing in the fellowship of St Andrew, St Allen and St Clement and all Christian people to your unfailing love.
Merciful Father: Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
We say together:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
When we see the Harvest by Susan Y Nildtenko
A harvest of apples, a harvest of corn;
A harvest of plenty, an autumn adorned.
With bright coloured leaves, a full harvest blend;
A wonderful time for families and friends.
A harvest of pumpkins, a harvest of grain;
A harvest of bounty, and cool autumn rains.
A big harvest moon - way up in the sky;
A harvest of blessing that God has supplied.
Be grateful, be humble, give thanks to the Lord;
He has showered His blessing here in our world.
But have we been faithful, and have we been true?
Have we put God first in all that we do?
A harvest that God sees is not food or crap;
Not pumpkins, or grain, not apples that drop.
But God sees the harvest of souls needing Him;
A harvest of people who need saved from their sin.
A harvest of souls and a harvest of love;
A harvest of mercy from our Father above.
When we see the harvest, let’s see through God’s eyes;
And share with the nations the life He supplies.
The Peace
Jesus said: ‘Love one another. As I have loved you, so you are to love one another.’
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
Hymn: 575 Rejoice, the Lord is King
The Blessing
Creator God, you give seed for us to sow, and bread for us to eat; make us thankful for what we have received and generous in supplying the needs of others so that all the world may give you thanks and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen