Harvest
1992 (Year C) 13 September / Pentecost 14
St Peter de Beauvoir Town
‘He spake the word and they were made: He commanded and they were created’. ‘By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth’. ‘And God looked on all that he had made and behold it was very good’. Whatever the original intention of these words, they give an impression that at the dawn of creation, everything was under control and fairly limited effort was needed. Of resources held in reserve and power which never needed to be fully used.
And we believe that the whole glorious majesty of this creation was given to us by God out of his supreme generosity. For God is generous. It’s at the heart of his very nature. His Son compared his Father to a Lord who gave a great banquet and when all the seats were not filled he commanded his servants to go out into the streets and bring people in. Such is his generosity. We come here today to remember this gift and to give thanks and praise to the giver.
Yet the words which speak so beautifully of creation and imply the ease in which it was all called to be, do the notion of creation a dis-service. They give no clue as to the cost of it all. The sweat of the dancer, the pain of woman in childbirth. These are nearer the true picture. But we prefer the softer words for they demand much less of us. If we knew the true cost of it all, we would certainly value it more. So we despoil it and treat it shamefully. What is even worse is that because we value it so little we invest little of our time and money in its conservation and preservation.
The same is true of the church. We have been given that by the good stewardship of previous generations. We know little about the cost and value it accordingly. So when we are asked to give towards the upkeep of the church either in terms of weekly giving or in terms of the restoration appeal then we prefer not to do it properly.
Harvest time in this church has become the traditional time when we try to get some measure of the true cost of creation and what implications that has for us and the way we live. It has particular significance this year as the work on the interior of the church and the crypt is due to begin and we plan for the ministry of the church in years to come.
All of it will cost money. There is no way round it. This year the Church Council has decided to try and get as many new people into the Free Will Offering Scheme as is possible, so some of you will be being visited about that. For more established members we will probably not be asking you to increase your giving to the general church fund, but to think seriously about giving to the Restoration appeal, and you will be hearing more about that.
The soft images of creation and the romantic notions which give us this ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’, allow us all kinds of reasons to put off thinking about the harsh reality of it all. But it is the reality that we must see in all its starkness. The time for excuses is gone; the time for making decisions is here. I end with a story about a man who saught to make excuses.
‘The Lord said unto Noah, ‘Where is the Ark I commanded you to build?’ And Noah said, ‘Verily I have had three carpenters off sick. The gopher wood supplier hath let me down – yea even though the gopher wood hath been on order for nigh upon twelve months. The damp course specialist hath not turned up’. And God said to oah, ‘I want the Ark finished before seven days and nights’. Noah said, ‘It will be so,’ but it was not so.
The Lord said unto Noah, ‘What seems to be the trouble this time?’ And: Noah said ‘My subcontractor hath gone bankrupt; the pitch for the outside of the Ark hath not arrived. The glazierdeparteth on holiday, yea even though I offered him double time. Shem hath formed himself a pop group with his brothers Ham and Japeth. Lord I am undone. And the Lord grew angry and said, ‘What about the animals, two of every kind I have offered to come to be kept alive. Where for example are the giraffes?’ And Noah said, they have been delivered to the wrong address, but should arrive by Friday.’.
And the Lord said to Noah, ‘Where are monkeys and the elephants?’ And Noah said, ‘They are expected today’. The Lord said, how about the Unicorns?’ Noah wrung his hands and wept, ‘Oh Lord, they are a discontinued line. Thou knowest, thou knowest how it is’. And the Lord said to Noah , ‘My son, I know, I know how it is. Why else dost thou think I have caused a flood!’
I hope we are able to see the fantastic generosity of God and respond accordingly. AMEN