Sunday 10 October 2021
Welcome
God cares for the earth and makes it fruitful. He crowns the year with his good gifts.
Psalm 65: 9,11
Hymn 230 Praise God for the harvest of orchard and field
Opening Prayer
Lord
Heavenly Father,
At Harvest time we come to say ‘Thank you’
for the food we eat
the beauty of the world
the cycle of the seasons
If we think about it, we also say ‘Thank you’
for things like fresh water
all the people involved in bringing food to our table
maybe even shelter from the cold and rain
But we don’t always think about things like
fresh unpolluted air
sources of energy, minerals and chemicals
the many skills and abilities that we have
jobs that we have or had
regularity of income
availability of benefits, pensions and charitable help
bin collections and street cleaning
the whole sanitary system
Sometimes it is only when we see pictures of other places
or we experience life there for ourselves
that we realise how much we take for granted
We take you for granted too
we forget that you are there
we don’t pay attention to your teaching or example
we don’t give you the praise and thanks that you deserve
When we stop to think about it
we are ashamed and sorry
Forgive us
Open our eyes to see the world around us
the good things we have
our dependence on so many people –
and those in need
Open our hearts and lives
to bring you the praise and honour you are due
to live lives appropriate to those
whom you have called to be your children
Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen
All age time (for ages 0-100)
Does anyone grow fruit or vegetables at home or in an allotment (hands up, don’t shout)? It can be fun to do so, it can be hard work, but what you get often tastes much better than what you can buy in the shops. It is however just a little extra, it doesn’t keep us fed for the year. For the rest of our food, for the rest of the year, we depend upon things that other people grow and produce, that we buy in the shop or the supermarket.
At one time, most people had to grow or gather almost everything they ate: keeping something to plant for next year. Some didn’t have their own land, so had to work on someone else’s, and often people had to provide food for their chief and his friends – as they didn’t do any farming. There are still quite a number of people around the world today who have to grow all their own food. It is hard work, and it’s a cause of constant anxiety: will there be enough sun and rain at the right time to make the crops grow? What if there is a very wet spell, or a long dry spell at the wrong time? (drying up, rotting, not ripening, washed away – turnip fields)? There might be pests or diseases that affect crops and livestock. Many depend upon selling spare crops, eggs, honey, dairy products to give them money to pay for education or healthcare.
Because growing and gathering sufficient food for the next year was such hard work and so uncertain, in many cultures around the world, over a very long, people got together to celebrate at the end of the harvest – eating, drinking and giving thanks to God, or their gods, for the harvest being safely in. When the Hebrew people settled in the Holy Land they found that the native Canaanites had harvest festivals to celebrate the end of the barley, wheat and grape harvests. They took them over and turned them into their festivals of Passover, Weeks and Tabernacles, which Jesus would have celebrated, and which Jewish people still celebrate today.
Because of Covid restrictions we are not celebrating Harvest this year as we have done in the past. The church isn’t decorated with lots of fruit and flowers, we aren’t asking people to bring gifts of food to church (at one time given to ‘the poor of the parish’, then ‘old people’ and more recently the Foodbanks). But we are still taking time today to think about food, to say ‘Thank you’ to God for what we have, to think about hunger, the challenges people face having enough to eat, and what we can do to help.
Hymn JP230 Thank you
Bible reading
Mark 10: 17-31
Reflection
We are used to going to the shops or supermarket and expecting to find what we want on the shelf at a price that we can afford. But over the last two years things have been less certain, and we have not been able to take that ‘usual way of doing things’ for granted. In fact many are now not going to the shops, but place an order online and have it delivered.
There was the run-up to the end of the Brexit transition period, with fears that lorries would be stuck at Channel ports – and so people stocked up, and as a result some shelves were empty. Then came Covid-19, and another stocking up (most famously of toilet rolls), but also shortages of things like flour and yeast partly because of production issues. Now we have the shortage of HGV drivers, abattoir workers and food processors, which is blamed for current gaps on the supermarket shelves (not to mention the petrol queues). We’ve seen concern over school holiday hunger, and Marcus Rashford’s campaign. We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people using the Foodbanks. Now we have concern expressed that in coming months the rise in wholesale gas prices will lead to many family having to decide to eat or heat. Increasing prices for fuel and increased wages or salaries for key sections of the economy have caused some commentators to fear a rise in prices for goods and services – again most heavily affecting those with low incomes. And in the summer before the Cop26 conference record temperatures and wild fires around the world have reminded us of the effects of climate change. It might make for a warm sunny July here, but in some places like Africa and Central America it has a direct impact on whether people will be able to grow the food they need to survive till next year, and to sell surplus to raise cash for services like education and healthcare that we are used to having free. In a global economy, where so much of our food comes from all around the world, climate-related problems halfway round the world impact on what we can buy, or the price we pay for it.
Addressing many of these issues requires decisions and action by governments, and in some cases (like climate change or trading tariffs) intergovernmental decisions. But some of those decisions – which might affect taxes, or prices, or restrictions on what we can do – will have a direct impact on us. Governments weigh up whether the ‘right thing to do’ is worth the bad publicity they may get from some of the media, and how it will be received by their core supporters.
The Lectionary Gospel reading for today is Mark’s account of Jesus meeting with the Rich Young Ruler. The man’s money, wealth, status and comfort would all be undermined if he were to follow Jesus’ advice and sell all that he has and give his money to the poor. It is probable that Jesus was speaking directly to this individual’s situation, rather than setting out a rule to be followed by everyone, though it has been much debated. Jesus and the writers of the Old and New Testament were neither economists nor political philosophers. They had little understanding of how economies worked, and if they had tried to spell out in detail their preferred approach to topics like ownership of property, taxation and the like, it would have been hard enough to transfer it from something like the Iron Age Holy Land to Iron Age Scotland, let alone to Twenty First Century Scotland. What they were all clear on, however, was the kind of world they wanted to see, with peace and justice, wholeness and fullness of life for everyone. It wasn’t some kind of mythical world where food miraculously appeared on a plate, and people could laze around in the sun all day. It would still be a world in which people worked, had families, and eventually died. But people would have security – security from hunger, from eviction, from violence, from disease.
Jesus doesn’t specify how we are to address issues around food, poverty, climate emergency and so on, in order to achieve his goals, but he does indicate that the issues are to be addressed, and that his people have a part to play in achieving them. As we give thanks for what we have, and remember the needs of those here and abroad who do not have security in life, God challenges us to think through what is needed to build the kind of world he wants to see, and what part he wants us to play in achieving that.
Hymn 232 Pears and apples
Prayers for others
Gracious God
As we celebrate Harvest
and give thanks for the food we eat
we remember the many people
who do not have ready access to food
who worry about where the next meal will come from
who can only afford food of low nutritional value
some are in countries abroad
exposed to extreme or unreliable weather
exhausted soil, pests or blight
some have had to flee from their homes
seeking safety from war or violence
some live in considerable poverty
some live in our own country and community
and have to turn regularly to foodbanks for assistance
we pray that governments will take appropriate steps
to ensure that no one need go hungry
that all will be confident about where their next meal will come from
and that eating is something that can be done with dignity
We pray for groups like the foodbanks
that provide emergency help
and for groups like Christian Aid
who work for long-term sustainable solutions
Help us to do what we can to help others to eat
We pray too for all who are engaged in the process
of bringing food to our table
farmers, fishermen, growers
transport and retail staff
we pray for all who are ill,
those who look after them
and those who worry about them
those waiting for or receiving treatment
and those for whom there is no treatment
those who are lonely, feeling down, or grieving a friend or loved one
those who are worried about home, work or money
a friend or a relative
those who are living with the after-effects of natural disasters
those who do not have enough to eat, or somewhere to call home
those who long to live in peace and safety
those who have fled from their homes seeking safety
We pray for the Queen, the Government
all in positions of leadership in this and every land
We pray for you church
the worldwide church
the wider church in Dumbarton
our own congregation
help us always to be faithful to Jesus our Lord
We bring to you our prayers for people and situations of special concern to us
And we sum up our prayers in the words of the prayer Jesus gave us
Hymn 231 For the fruits of all creation
Blessing (3-fold Amen)
And the blessing of God Almighty..