Harvest Thanksgiving is a charming celebration – a joy because of all we have received and (if we allow ourselves the opportunity) a moment of subline spiritual reflection in the midst of the natural cycle. In a traditional harvest celebration there is much for the senses: the sight of floral decorations, the smell of fruit and vegetables, the anticipated taste of home-grown produce and the sound of favourite hymns.

One hymn of olden days came to mind recently. It fails to appear in Common Praise although it is in the New English Hymnal, ‘Fair waved the golden corn’. It is very much a children’s hymn and is included in the children’s section of Hymns Ancient and Modern Revised, but is none the worse for that.

Fair waved the golden corn,

In Canaan’s pleasant land,

When full of joy, some shining morn,

Went forth the reaper band.

2

To God so good and great

Their cheerful thanks they pour;

Then carry to His temple gate

The choicest of their store.

3

Like Israel, Lord, we give

Our earliest fruits to Thee,

And pray that, long as we shall live,

We may Thy children be.

4

Thine is our youthful prime,

And life and all its powers,

Be with us in our morning time,

And bless our evening hours.

5

In wisdom let us grow,

As years and strength are given,

That we may serve Thy Church below,

And join Thy saints in Heaven.

The hymn was written by John Hampton Gurney (1802-1862) who was sometime Rector of St. Mary’s, Marylebone and Prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is rich in sentiment, consonant with the romance of childhood and the teachings of the Sunday School, not for its own sake, but to emphasise the different elements of a faithful Christian life.

The first two verses emphasise the bounty of the harvest and the offering of the first fruits to God, but then the third verse uses the analogy of the harvest to express the sacrifices of our own lives and encourages them to be made even in youth so that we may be children of the Kingdom throughout our lives. A fourth verse refers to the daily round which is the foundation of the harvest of life. It is a theme found in other hymns – the more modern ‘Lord of all hopefulness’ comes to mind. The final verse asks that the offering of the faithful in the daily round may issue in a life of service to the Church and assure them that the final destination is heaven.

It is difficult to know whether such sentiments are still appreciated in today’s church, not least because the writers of the majority of modern songs and hymns do not seem to have a liturgical background and so are unaware of or choose to ignore the seasons of the year as these apply to the life of the Church. That is a pity as hymns have been a principal vehicle for teaching the faith for many centuries. We tend to remember what we sing and even if we don’t always fully understand the words in childhood, the remembrance of the hymn in subsequent years gives a second chance. The hymn is sung to the tune ‘Holyrood’ and can easily be found on the internet.

Image by Aszak on Pixabay

The complete newsletter may be downloaded here: