Harvest 2026
Philippians 4: 4-9 John 6: 25-35
From the moment that we get out of bed to that time when we creep into it once more after a hard day's work, we are surrounded by the gifts of nature. From trees reaching out to the distance, and fields all around us, from gardens with flower borders and immaculate cut lawns, to flowerpots and window boxes, we see the results of the hand of God.
You may be the ones who have been handed the task of maintaining all of this nature we have. The truth being that if we did not engage in this work we would have very little. The work of our hands engages with nature in caring for our crops, in developing new strains, and in the production of equipment to keep up with all of the new technologies.
We've come together today to give thanks to God for our harvest and, well ,yes he does play a part in the seasons. In the first place we would have nothing about us if God had not been our creator. This planet would have been like Mars or any other planet if it had not been for the action of God in creation.
We have the seasons as they cycle around us year after year, each cycle bringing with it an annual gift of rain, frost, snow, and sun. We cannot forget the sun. We have developed our interaction with the seasons and seen our farming practises change as new technologies and understandings become known.
Even the development of technology can be classed as a harvest because God has given us the reasoning, the intelligence, to move forward. Taking matters to extreme AI, that the artificial intelligence, is a part of the divine harvest.
The harvest is upon us, or even past, depending on what it is that you are growing, but the harvest also includes the gathering of ores and minerals from the earth. These are a finite resource that once used will not grow again. Once used up cannot be replaced. Much of the plastic that we use in various formats, the petrol or diesel that we use to go from place to place, some of the clothes that we wear, all have their common base in oil. Once we exhaust our oil supplies I suppose it will mean getting out those rusty old cycles and hope that we have enough oil to lubricate the wheels and chain.
But not all is gloom and doom. There is hope on the horizon. Rather like the massed riders of the cavalry as they appear charging over the horizon towards you, as you are surrounded by your enemies and about to ‘go down for the third time’. The cavalry are our farmers. They go out, whatever the weather, to carry out the tasks that need to be done to ensure that whatever they are producing is cared for. We may be running out of oil and diesel but there are alternatives provided from crops that our farmers grow.
And so it goes on. From crop to crop, from age to age, God has given us the resources to continue. From changing what we grow to developing new materials and chemicals, we have a future in front of us. It is a future that we travel towards, hand in hand with God.
It matters not whether we have our arm up the rear end of a cow or whether we just potter around our garden with our small pack of seeds wondering just where to plant the beans, out of reach of the birds naturally, we are furthering the work of creation. This harvest we give thanks for all of God’s goodness.
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 for ever.