Harvest Festival

Let the peoples praise you Lord,
 Let all the peoples praise you.
 The Earth has yielded its harvest
 May God, our God bless us

​Hymn StF123 Come You Thankful People Come

Prayer Adoration & Confession
Gracious God, who provides for us abundantly, 
we praise you for the abundance of your creation, 
and we thank you that day by day you give us the things we need; food, water, air, shelter, clothing, the love of our families and friends.

Thank you that you have put in our hearts a hunger for you, and that when we reach out for you, you eagerly meet our searching. Thank you that you draw us into your own life and that you walk with us as we grow into the things of the Spirit. Thank you for what you have achieved in us of love and truth, courage and peace, joy and tolerance.

Yet, Lord God, so often we are slow to respond to you, and we ask forgiveness for the ways we refuse what you want to give us, for our greed of material comfort; for our unwillingness to trust you, for our deafness to truth, for our lack of love for each other, for our carelessness about your world, for our longing for vindication for ourselves.

In the certainty that you forgive us completely, those confessed shortcomings, the things that shut you out of our lives, we turn gratefully to the future you wish for us, trusting you to satisfy our hunger to live more deeply and richly as we walk beside you day by day and year by year. In Jesus’ name we prayer, Amen.

Hymn StF124 For The Fruits of all Creation Thanks be To God

Readings:   Deuteronomy 28:1-14 & 2 Cor 9:6-15

 Sermon - Growing Gratitude and Generosity - Revd John Rowe
I think I have previously mentioned that I was in my early forties when I first went to university. Liz and I were married with 3 young children when the company I’d helped set up went into liquidation. It was then we believed God was directing me in the direction of university to study theology. Not only was that a huge change of direction to our lives it was also a monumental decision as our finances at the time were nonexistent.  But after much prayer we committed ourselves to what and where we believed, was God’ leading us. 

Not many weeks after starting university however our car was declared to be unrepairable.  The car was essential for my four times a week, 80 mile round trip journey to and from university given that we lived in in a small rural Staffordshire village with virtual no public transport. Just when it looked like I would have to withdraw from the degree course and a major rethink as to where God was in all of this through the letter box came a cheque, sufficient to buy another second hand car.  There is of course a lot more background to this story and I will at some point in the future tell you our Christian testimony but today it is enough to say that Liz and I received that cheque as an amazingly generous act by the Christian giver; a gift in which we believed had God’s provision and generosity stamped all over it. 

Having told you that story I just want to pause a minute to ask you if you can call to mind an occasion when you have been provided for by other people or when God has provided for your need? (Pause) 

Harvest, I think, is a good time to stop and remember that everything we have is ultimately a gift from God. We might talk about “my food”, or “my money” or “my house”. But all the things we have received are reliant on a long chain of people, and when you trace that chain back it always begins with the gifts of God. Farmers know this - they put work in by sowing and reaping, but there are other processes which they have no control over. As Christians we believe these to be the provision of God. 

Paul uses this image of the farmer being provided for in our passage from 2 Corinthians 9. He writes: Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. (2 Cor. 9:10)

1) God of all of life
The first thing we can notice in this passage is how Paul is constantly mixing things we think of as “spiritual” with very ordinary, everyday things. In fact, at times, it is difficult to know if Paul is talking about physical seed and bread, or if he is using seeds and bread as metaphors for the work of God in us. That is probably because Paul didn’t think with the same attitude that we have towards so-called “secular” and “sacred” things. For Paul, every aspect of life was sacred, made by God. All of life speaks to us about God, all of life is an opportunity to be blessed by God, and is a chance for us to serve God.

We see this in our passage from Deuteronomy. Moses tells the people that when they obey God they will be blessed in every aspect of life:
You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country….
The calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks
your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. (Deut. 28:3-9)

“Blessing” is not just a feeling of inner peace, nor is it merely about financial gain. God is interested in the Israelites’ baskets and their kneading troughs. He is interested in your computer, your filing cabinet, your hammer, your whisk, and your paintbrush. He blesses us in rural and urban places, in our homes and our workplaces. He is involved in our conflicts and our struggles. He wants us to be holy and obedient to him in every aspect of our lives. So, Harvest is a good time to be reminded that our God is the God of the whole of our lives which means we have the daily opportunity to grow in the ways of God.

2) Grounded in gratitude
When we begin to realise this, the result ought to be gratitude towards God. Paul ends this section of 2 Corinthians 9 with a shout of praise: Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Cor. 9:15)

God’s giving to us is literally “indescribable”. When we consider how God not only provides for our physical needs, but even went as far as sending the gift of his only Son to save us by his grace - this is truly a reason for heartfelt thanks!  Of gratitude toward God for all his blessings upon our lives. It is however easy to forget to be grateful. Stopping to count our blessings and to express thanks to God is one of those heart-habits which we need to return to. Studies have shown that gratitude has benefits for our emotional and physical health, for our relationships and even helps people sleep better! But more importantly, being thankful puts God back in his rightful place as the source and the centre of all life. As we have seen in recent days our late Queen, Elizabeth II believed that to be very much the case.

3) Gratitude grows generosity
This also leads us to our third point - that gratitude grows generosity. The most obvious theme of this passage from 2 Corinthians is the financial gift that Paul was encouraging these Gentile Christians to give to the struggling Jewish believers in Jerusalem. But we can misunderstand what Paul is saying if we begin with the question of giving.
We can look at the subject of giving as if it was a business transaction. If I give this much, how much will I get back? What is in it for me? If I feed my money into God’s slot machine, how much will he pay out? It is possible to take Paul’s words about sowing and reaping out of context to make us think that Christian giving works in this way. But to do that would be to dangerously miss the point.

Christian giving has to be based on our two previous points: 1) God is the God over all of life, and 2) he has been abundantly generous towards us. When these two things move from our heads to our hearts, it can inspire free, abundant and grateful giving. It becomes the overflow of thankful hearts that simply want to get involved in the lavish generosity of God.  When we give from this motive, Paul describes three results. 

Firstly, as we open our hands to give, we create space for God to continue to provide for us. Paul writes:
You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion (2 Cor. 9:11)

Notice that: enriched in every way. Not just receiving money but the abundant and enriching flow of God’s generosity, the blessings of contentment, kindness and - yes - continued provision. This passage does say that as we give we will receive; that is one result of entering into God’s generosity.  I heard a story about a woman who was standing at a bus stop. She had just received a cash bonus at work, so she was carrying more money than usual and was a little bit nervous about that.

She glanced around and noticed a shabbily dressed man standing nearby. And as she watched, she saw another man walk up to him, hand him some money and whisper something in his ear.
She was so touched by that act of kindness that she decided to do the same. In a burst of generosity, she reached into her purse, took out £10, handed it to the man, and whispered to him, "Never give up, never give up."
The next day when she came to the bus stop, there he was again. But this time he walked up to her and handed her £110. Utterly confused she asked, "What's this?" He said, "You won, lady. Never give up romped home at 10 to 1."  Now I can't promise that our every act of kindness & generosity will pay 10 to 1 - Indeed there will probably be occasions when the exercise of our love will be costly and require sacrifices on our part.  But the fruit of our giving has two other results – Paul in verse 12 says this:

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. (2 Cor. 9:12)

The second result of giving, says Paul, is that other people’s needs are met. There is no doubt that right now, today, people across our community, country and our world have needs which may only be met when we join with our generous God in giving from what we’ve received. But thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, we discover that this giving is not just for our benefit or for meeting other’s needs: it is an act of worship to God. Giving to others is itself an expression of thanks and praise. Paul goes on to say:

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ (2 Cor. 9:13)

Giving can communicate the very heart of the gospel. When you give motivated by gratitude for God’s generosity, other people will catch a glimpse of what the gospel means to you and it will lead them to praise God for themselves.

I began by telling you about an act of generosity toward myself and Liz. That act of generosity has enabled us collectively to offer over 40 years of ordained ministry. None of it would have happened without that act of kindness. It makes you wonder, at this Harvest time, just what our sharing of God’ provision can accomplish. Praise the Lord Amen.

Hymn StF51 Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Prayers of Intercession
Bidding: You give us each day our daily bread:  
Response: Make us thankful for your gifts, make us generous to share.

God, you have blessed us abundantly. We thank you for the provision of food, our daily bread. We bring to you the people across the world, and here in our community, who are hungry. May we, and all your people, share so that the gifts you give are distributed with justice and fairness.
You give us each day our daily bread:
make us thankful for your gifts,
make us generous to share.

We thank you for everyone who works in farming, food production, shops and restaurants. Bring prosperity and security to their businesses. Help us to work in partnership with your creation, in ways which benefit all you have made.
You give us each day our daily bread:
make us thankful for your gifts,
make us generous to share.

Jesus, you are the bread of life. We share the bread around your table, and you sustain us every day as we feed on you. Help us to share both our physical resources and the truth of who you are with the world around us.
You give us each day our daily bread:
make us thankful for your gifts,
make us generous to share. Amen.
Drawing on the Harvest worship resources produced Engage Worship

Hymn StF571 As Your Family Lord, See Us Here

The Lord's Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.

Hymn StF465  Guide Me O thou Great Jehovah 

Blessing
Be faithful stewards of Creation
Be grateful servants of God.
And the blessing of Almighty God
Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you and those for whom you pray this day and evermore. Amen