Sixteenth Sunday after TrinityExodus 16.2–15 (related reading) Philippians 1.21–end Matthew 20.1–16You are the Chair of a committee and share the responsibility for much of what the club or association does. As Chair you can, to a degree, sway the direction of a meeting. This is the case that we see with Moses and Aaron in the Old Testament reading. OK, they are not heading up a committee as such. But a whole nation of people, the Israelites.The Israelites had been happyish where they were sat beside their fleshpots and eating their fill of bread. Now Moses and Aaron had led them away from this life into the wilderness to seek a new place. It would not be long before the supplies of food ran thin or even ended altogether. Rumbling tummies give rise to dissatisfaction and complaints and this is just what happened.God heard their dissatisfaction and spoke to Moses telling him that he was going to rain bread from heaven for the Israelites to gather as food to supply them. Day by day this bread would be provided for the people to go out and gather. On the sixth day there would be twice as much bread so double may be gathered to feed them on the seventh day, the Sabbath.Moses and Aaron told the Israelites what would happen. He explained how God had heard them and was supplying their needs. When this occurred, the Israelites were in a quandary. What was happening? Moses explained that it was the bread that the Lord had given them to eat.Here we had a complete nation rise up and complain. Leading them into the wilderness it was up to Moses and Aaron to satisfy the complaining hoard. God heard and acted. He supplied the needs of the people. Sending a layer of dew and then hidden beneath the dew was a fine flaky substance. Here was the bread from heaven, food which would satisfy their needs. All they had to do was to go out and gather for their daily needs and on the sixth day gather twice as much. A heavenly harvest was theirs for them to gather.We are still very much in the harvest season with churches up and down the land celebrating God’s providence in their different ways. Coastal parishes frequently have the fruit of the sea as a large focus of their harvest festival whilst deep inland the fruit of the field is more likely to be the major point of focus. We see cleverly shaped loaves in the shape of a sheaf of corn and loaves of bread reflecting the skill of the baker.For the Israelites the heavenly harvest had to supply them whilst they trekked through that wilderness. For how long they did not know. They just placed their trust in Moses and Aaron that they would lead them to the promised land. The heavenly harvest would supply their needs.Here, wherever we may be reading this homily, we too will be gathering our harvest. Many of my e-congregation are local to mid-Devon, and yet I know of some who read this in South Australia. It would be nice to receive an idea of your location if more than just a few miles away. It would show how the Word of God passes throughout the world. A Word which upon being read is reaping a harvest of souls. God is gathering into his kingdom his children. Currently, they may be lost, travelling through a wilderness, unsure not only of where they are going but also doubtful of what will sustain them on their journey.And a journey is what we are all on, from the moment of our birth to our final breath. God is with us and providing for us in any of many different ways. The Israelites had the heavenly bread. We have a whole superstore of delights harvested for us by people working in fields and farms all over the world and provided for us in the mega super-stores in our land.The Israelites did not know what that heavenly food was and asked of Moses. We can find ourselves in a similar position when we go into a big supermarket and grab a tin off the shelves. Do we recognise the contents? Possibly we do but we may find a tin or a piece of fresh produce we do not recognise. The label may not be of much help. Using the maxim of ‘if in a tin pour it into a pan to cook it’ may not be the best way forward if it is a soft fruit meant to be eaten straight from the tin. Even today there are times when we also have to ask what is in front of us. Whatever it is the object of our question will have been provided by God through his grace and by the work of his children caring for his creation.Collect for the Sixteenth Sunday after TrinityO Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hearthe prayers of your people who call upon you;and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do,and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;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.
Harvest 2026Philippians 4: 4-9 John 6: 25-35From 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 HarvestEternal God,you crown the year with your goodnessand 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.
Fourteenth Sunday after TrinityIsaiah 55.12−end Colossians 1.15−20 Matthew 8.23–27Here we have a young man. He has not been to a college of further education or to a university. He is a carpenter from a carpenter family. He will be skilled in the tools of his trade, the plane, the saw and the chisel. Yet he has something about him.We are in the days before Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Such heroes had not yet been conceived or invented. Any power that a person possessed were his alone as opposed to being granted by the influence of coming here from a film company. No going into a telephone box to change from your everyday man in the street clothes into a costume showing you to be a superhuman being capable of doing all manner of things. All that we have here is a young man of humble beginnings but with something different.We are looking at Jesus. He is the Son of God. He had learnt about his Father during his childhood and early years. He communicated with Him through prayer. He knew he had a mission and ministry, and this was to be directed to the Jews, the chosen people. He called upon twelve people to join with him, to accompany him, to be his disciples. In time their knowledge of Jesus was to grow.We come to the episode of the boat on the sea. A boat was on the shoreline and Jesus stepped in. His disciples followed him joining with him on his venture. As they were crossing the sea a gale started to blow. Not just a little weak gale but a mighty in strength blow, so mighty that the boat was in danger of sinking. The disciples had a panic fearing for their lives and turned to look at Jesus peacefully asleep.Why did they turn to him? What did they see in or understand about him? There must have been some understanding of his special nature to turn away from saving their own skins to bother to wake him up. But wake him up they did. And what a response they got. “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” I am sure that this reaction from Jesus was far from what they might have expected. No arm waving, shouting, attempting to bail out the boat, but just a telling off towards the winds and the sea. And they obeyed him! There was a flat calmThe disciples were puzzled. If the powers of nature obey him just who was this Jesus fellow? They were amazed at what had happened and had to look at Jesus in a new light. This is something that we all have to do at some time. We grow a stereotypical picture of Jesus, how he may have looked, how he conducted his life, how he carried out his ministry? These self images may keep us warm and comfortable but how correct are they? Are we in the same position as the disciples in the boat on the sea? Their place of safety and comfort suddenly placed in jeopardy.It may be in our life we are suddenly faced with a dilemma. Something has happened and a dearly loved one has been taken away from us. Called by God to serve him in his kingdom they are no longer here. About us friends and family comfort and support us and in them, if we open our eyes, we can understand and see Jesus at work. In our times of peril and danger Jesus can be found in those who try to alleviate the suffering. In all who bring relief and comfort. Jesus is at work in the situation. When taken to extremes of suffering such as we saw in the Himalayas, so many lost their life as they were called to serve God. In that suffering there was Jesus present in the relief workers and rescuers. He was acting in them in ways that they had not expected. Tragedies happen but God gives us ways, through his Son, to work through them.The gospel acclamation for today’s gospel reads, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things.” God created the world and all that is in it. Nature is at work in the world and we work with nature to have all that we have about us, from harvest of the land to harvests of the minerals in the land. All is done ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord’.And this is who he is. As the Son of God he is always there to support and strengthen, to pour out his love and to lead us onwards. Times may be difficult or even painful, but Jesus will ‘hold our hand’. If the winds and sea obey him then his strength will come to our aid.Collect for the Fourteenth Sunday after TrinityHoly and eternal God,you are the Maker of heaven and earth,you are the Word through whom all things were made, and you are the Spirit, the giver of life:draw us into the mystery of your love,that with all creation we may proclaim your praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thirteenth Sunday after TrinityJeremiah 15.15–21 Romans 12.9–end Matthew 16.21–endSometimes what we read in the Bible can be a struggle to understand. Some passages seem to defy logic, and today’s gospel reading is one instance where this is appearing to happen. How does losing one’s life gain one’s life?In this expression we are looking at two things. On the one hand we are looking at finality, an ending. This is something that we all can appreciate and understand. On the other hand we are looking at creation, a beginning, again this is something that we all understand. But, when used in the same sentence here is where we are likely to hit problems.It is all well and good living a life with all of the trimmings, with every conceivable luxury at your side, where at the flick of your fingers aides come running to fulfil your every wish and will. Yes, you have absolutely everything and want for nothing. Really! Is it likely that, yes, there is still something missing? At first glance you may be forgiven for thinking not. Everything is there, whatever could be missing.Let us move to one side in our thinking. Surrounded by every imaginable physical desire it is easy to have your sight blinded to other things in life. But, leaving all that behind we can see a whole new world comprising of all manner of situations. These could be ranging from homelessness to hunger, from uncertainty to all manner of conditions and circumstances. With each of these quite often all that is needed is someone to step forward and say, ‘Can I help?’ by making such an offer you are stepping into another world. Quite literally you are leaving behind all of your possessions to step into another world where you are giving of yourself.Here is the teaching of Jesus. He is encouraging us to turn to God and leave behind all of that which clutters our life. God is our provider. He gives all that we need. If we look about us we see his gifts given in plenty. And, as we look about we will see other people in their various states of life.If we leave behind all of our trappings to go to assist or help where it is needed, we are leaving behind one life and entering another. The physical dimension of our being is nice to pamper with all manner of goodies, but none of them are of any use to us when we come face to face with Our Lord. These he will not look at or take into consideration. He will look into our soul.What will he find there? Will it be a love of all of the property that we have surrounded ourselves with, the items of luxury, those things that enabled us to just lie back and let the world go past? If that is the case then the records of our life, when examined, will not count for much in the heavenly kingdom.If, however, we cast to one side all of those distractions and devote our life to caring for our neighbour and helping where we are able then we are adopting those same qualities as Jesus showed. Turning to Jesus and doing his will all go towards losing your life to Jesus.This is what he means. In all that we do we should try to emulate Jesus. Look at how he would approach a situation. Are we in a position to do something similar? Jesus tells us that if we want to follow him we have to deny ourselves. Examine our very nature and see where we fall down. In doing this we may discover just what lies in front of us as an obstacle making it hard for us to follow Jesus. This obstacle, our cross, we have to take up for ourselves for it is a part of us. Once acknowledged then we can cast it off to Jesus who promised, “Come unto me, all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you”, words we hear in the Book of Common Prayer Communion Service taken from Matthew’s Gospel.Collect for the Thirteenth Sunday after TrinityAlmighty God,who called your Church to bear witnessthat you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:help us to proclaim the good news of your love,that all who hear it may be drawn to you;through him who was lifted up on the cross,and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
