Today was the harvest festival at my church, and in the notice sheet that we get given at each service was the story of Robert Hawker, the vicar who - back in 1843 - held the first harvest festival in England. Back then, the community was run by the seasons, and harvest actually meant something. Now, in our global culture, we don't need to wait for the season of a certain type of fruit or other produce, we can just get it imported from another country.
I think that this is rather sad. We seem to forget about the changing of nature, and our man made world is trying its best to block out the glory of God's Creation so that it isn't as important in our lives as it was back in Robert Hawker's day.
Ever since I started getting more outspoken in my faith - this blog, my sermon (Treasure in clay pots) - I have been noticing the seasons more. How hot and sunny it was in summer, and how the weather is now turning and the leaves are just beginning to fall off the trees. Stuff that's been in my life since childhood, but now seems more incredible now that I'm actually seeking out God's glory, which is oh so apparent in the glory of His Creation.
I've been remembering how miserable I feel when it gets cold, then how the colder weather means the coming of Christmas and celebrating the birth of our Saviour, and how then it will begin to get warmer and we'll be getting ready to celebrate Easter and then it'll be summer again and it'll all start over as it did before.
The changing of the seasons shows the glory of Creation in such a simple way, and it's right there in front of you; you don't have to look hard at all. It's the glory of God all around us, and it's stunningly beautiful.
I think it's true that we are estranged from the rhythms of nature nowadays (especially if we live in East London!) Despite this, though, our spiritual life has its own seasons, and these we can always be aware of through our relationship with Jesus. Our hearts too have their harvest, where we bring to God the fruit of His love for us - and in a way, the tins of sweetcorn and baked beans that we bring to church are a symbol of this very fact.
ReplyDeleteOne of my very favourite sayings of Jesus is about harvest too - 'Do you not say, four months more, then comes the harvest? But I tell you, look about you, and see that the fields are ripe for harvesting.' (John 4, at the end of the chapter, I think.) In other words, the reign of the Lord Jesus isn't in some distant eschatological future, it's right here and right now. So, I think that harvest should remind us of the immediacy of Jesus, and work against any idea that Christianity is all about indefinitely deferred promises.