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Dear All,
Harvest Festival is a time when we give thanks to God for his provision for us; we will be doing this in our services on 5 October. In this we are, in our own way, following the Old Testament provisions. But as I read some of the harvest hymns I am conscious that they pick up Jesus words using harvest to think about the Kingdom of God, and this is what I would like to focus upon in this letter.
First of all there is the famous parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23) in which the message of the Kingdom is likened to seed sown; some fall on the path, others rocky soil or amongst weeds, and don't produce any lasting harvest. But some seed fell on good soil and produced a harvest 30, 60, even a hundred fold. This was an encouragement to the disciples and to us; it is only natural that some people don't have a lasting response when we share what we believe. Don't worry about that, Jesus says, but look instead at how wonderful it is when people do respond well, since their harvest is so worthwhile. Thus it is an encouragement for us to keep on sharing our faith. Jesus talked about the need for labourers in the Kingdom because the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few (Matthew 9:37-38), which reinforces the need to be available to be used by God. Of course, this leaves open the question of how to share our beliefs in a helpful and healthy way – but that's a topic for another time!
The parable of the sower is also a challenge to us, since it forces us to ask ourselves the question, what sort of soil are we to the message of Jesus? Are we producing lots of fruit? As I ask that question I do want to stress that we shouldn't be comparing ourselves with anyone else; each of us should be producing our own sort of fruit. But that fruit should be in abundance if we are being good soil for God's work in us. What we will say to Jesus when he asks us about our lives, the way we have lived and the harvest we produced?
There are parables that link harvest to judgment. The end of the hymn "Come you thankful people come" does this. The parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30,36-43) and the parable of the fishing net (Matthew 13:47-50) both make the point powerfully that one day we will be judged by God for the way we have lived and used the gifts he has given us. It may be a frightening thought, but the scriptures and the hymn both make the point that it will also be glorious and joyful. May God bless you this Harvest-tide.
Philip Brooks
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