Saturday 5 October 2013

Harvest Festival 6th October 2013 8am

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say ‘Rejoice’ Philippians 4:4
In those words St Paul captures the invitation we welcome annually at Harvest Festival.
I can’t demonstrate as High Weald Dairy will, later on, something of Horsted Keynes’ harvest, or give you a St Giles’ cheese tasting afterwards, but I can pick up less graphically on the sentiment of gratitude.
The Christian faith calls for inner eyes of faith that remain open in gratitude.
We come from God. We belong to God. We go to God. 
This means, as creatures made and loved by God, we live in gratitude towards the one who made us and provides for us.
What a wonderful privilege it is for us to live in mid Sussex in a place as beautiful as Horsted Keynes! I was reminded of this by the feedback on last Saturday’s Quiet Day for diocesan trainee readers held in the Martindale. The participants were wowed by the Martindale window and view, by their walk to Church, to the spring at Ludwell and the Mill. How privileged we are to live in Horsted Keynes and its surrounds!
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say ‘Rejoice’ Philippians 4:4
You don’t have to live surrounded by beauty to live in gratitude. Our welcoming of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament Sunday by Sunday should focus a grateful welcoming of the Lord in every circumstance that comes our way. God who so generously comes to us in this eucharist, literally ‘thanksgiving service’ is as ready to meet us in the circumstances of our life as he is to meet us in the Sacrament of Bread and Wine.
I will go unto the altar of God, even unto the God of my joy and gladness we read in Psalm 43v4
To be glad at heart is more than a passing sentiment linked to harvest as a passing church season. It is a matter of deep ongoing submission.
This morning we might ask ourselves ‘Are we really glad, deep down in our heart, in our situation?’
What would be your answer? What business might you have to transact this morning at the altar of God?
If we aren't glad at heart we’re very likely lacking in submission of our circumstances to God. We only fear those things we have not submitted to God.
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say ‘Rejoice’ Philippians 4:4
As we read in another Psalm, 112 verses 6,7: The righteous...will not be overthrown by evil circumstances...they do not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For they are settled in their mind that the Lord will take care of them.
To pray the harvest prayers – and we all struggle with them - is both an expression of and a seeking after deeper gladness of heart. This is in our interest, and in the interest of those who live close to us, since if we’re not resigned in a positive way to the will of God revealed to us in the circumstances of our daily living we will be people being worn away by anxiety, people seeing their pride humiliated through that refusal to say, deep down, ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done, give us this day our daily bread’
In contrast St. Paul calls us in our harvest reading to put our focus not on self but on God:
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say ‘Rejoice’.  He repeats this advice in his first letter to the Thessalonians: give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" 1 Thessalonians 5v16‑18.

Thanksgiving, joy, gladness are the Christian distinctive in all circumstances and they centre on the altar of our God of joy and gladness - for the gifts of bread and wine are offered as a glad expression of our submission to God this morning. Their transformation to Christ’s body and blood and our receiving of these is the instrument of our own ongoing transformation into thankful living. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say ‘Rejoice’

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