Harvest: Transformation & Growth

Sermon by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
Readings: Ezekiel 47:6-12; Psalm 65:8-13; 2Cor 9:6-11; Mark 4:26-32

Harvest is a strange sort of thing. It’s not a religious festival. It’s quite solidly earthy – there’s no scriptural story, no ritual practice. There were Harvests and thanksgivings before Christianity; There are secular versions now. Just about every culture that’s every existed has celebrated and given thanks for the Harvest.

But Harvest does fit very well with our faith. The defining worship of the Church is known usually by three names: The Lord’s Supper – the celebration of a meal, centred on bread and wine, and dependent on the Harvest; Communion – which translates “as one” – the coming together of the community, the church and God, as the act of Harvest traditionally brings the whole village together to one end. And, of course, the Eucharist – which simply means “thanksgiving”. And it’s not insignificant that the last word you hear before receiving bread and wine in this service, and at the invitation in the modern service is: ‘thanksgiving’ and ‘thankful’.

So in rural Christian communities, it’s not surprising that this service, which brings together the liturgy, the community, and the basics for life, has become a keystone in the Church’s year. But, stepping beyond that, generosity is an attribute abundantly given to God. Most of the promises of the Hebrew Bible concern the goodness of the promised land – flowing with milk and honey. Ezekiel’s vision, we heard, – is of plenitude. And in 2Corinthians – Paul takes up the familiar theme of grace, and we hear that sense of the distribution of wealth and blessing, of ‘all bountifulness’ through the natural world.

That generosity is something we are expected to echo:  So that well-loved verse “God loveth a cheerful giver.” Or in the letter of James: ‘Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.’ As we are generous, so we find in ourselves the image of God.

So, as Harvest is about thanksgiving and the generosity of the natural world;  In Christian worship this becomes both a concrete example of grace, and a metaphor for the goodness of God we believe we receive in Christ’s saving work. But even more than this, agricultural language is everywhere. The Hebrew Bible consistently uses imagery such as the vineyard for Israel. Most of Jesus’ teaching and parables comes through agricultural vignettes. 2Corinthians has just spoken of ‘the increase of the fruits of your righteousness’ – and we are familiar with ‘the fruits of the Spirit’; in John’s Gospel Jesus is the vine with the church as the branches bearing fruit;  in the other Gospels we have the sower whose harvest comes from the seed fallen on good ground.

The choice of metaphor matters. It conveys a hidden, perhaps interior transformation. From seed to flower is unexpected, mysterious but also within the created order. It requires external action – the seed does not just grow itself. It is common, but beautiful and life giving. It also speaks of the coming of life from death. The seed must first of all die: ‘What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.’ And everything the Christian believes is centred on resurrection: The resurrection of Jesus and our future hope.

But as well as transformation, the kingdom of God is also about growth. Most of the parables are about growth – and Jesus uses natural, agrarian examples. The mustard seed, the sower, the wheat and tares. Growth – an organic, productive, progressive metaphor. The kingdom of God growing within us; The church as the living, growing body of Christ.

Growth is currently a hot topic in the Church of England. Parts of the church are very keen on monitoring the numbers: How many people in church? Regular attendance? Baptisms, weddings, funerals, All this information is churned through the bureaucracy to give indications of growth and decline –  What works and doesn’t. As a vicar I think there’s a strong sense that you are assessed on the basis of your Sunday attendance and parish giving. At a time when big questions are being asked, are enough people going to church and can you afford the vicar your diocese is paying for, becomes the bottom line for every parish.

But can the kingdom of God be measured? Many in the church look down on this culture of numbers and measurability. Are we about getting numbers in church or deepening faith? How transformative is the church in the local community? What are the signs and indicators of a healthy church? What fruit are we really looking for?

When we look at St Margaret’s: is it a growing church? Is it a church that is faithful in following Christ and extending the boundaries of the kingdom of God? Part of the complexity of the metaphor is captured in today’s Gospel. It begins in straightforwardly. The Gospel is sewn. It grows – the sower knows not how – But when it is ripe, the sickle comes out and the grain is harvested. The process isn’t just about growth and increase. The metaphor contains within it destruction and death, both of the seed and the grain. It’s the gathering of the fruit that is the goal, but that is only achieved after the harvest. There is a time to be born, a time to die. a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.

When Jesus announced the arrival of the kingdom of God, everyone thought they knew what he meant. But the kingdom of God is both present and hidden. So too, spiritually, we see the fruits of God’s work, the fruit of the spirit – joy, peace, love, kindness, goodness, gentleness – But the final harvest may be known only to God. In this world it remains hidden – It is the seed that is buried awaiting the flowering of resurrection.

So at the Harvest – we give thanks for the goodness of creation and its gifts that we depend upon. But we also recognise a metaphor here that speaks of goodness and generosity of God in the grace of Christ’s great work – received by us in eucharist.

Our prayer, in thankfulness and praise, is for the growth of this gift in the fruits of the Spirit; and that at the last we may flower in resurrection with him who has given everything and is the giver of all good gifts around us. Amen.