It is difficult to celebrate Harvest this year. It has been a terrible year for the farming community. So many livestock have been slaughtered in the attempt to stop the spread of Foot and Mouth disease. And despite such draconian measures, the disease has still not been eradicated, so that farmers continue to live with the threat of losing their livelihood. For many where animals remain healthy, there has been a loss of some, or all, of their income. There is real anxiety and suffering for so many involved in the rural economy, and we should all be sensitive to their situation, and hold them in our prayers.
But then on Tuesday 11 September the world reaped a grotesque and terrifying harvest – the harvest of terrorism. In those pictures of destruction in Manhattan we have a horrifying image of the wrong harvest, burnt indelibly into our memories. St Paul described the contrast between the Harvest of the Spirit and the Harvest of our lower nature. Perhaps this terrifying event can wake us up to the reality of the alternative harvest. It was also St Paul who wrote:- “As you sow, so shall you reap.” Make no mistake about it; that terrorist atrocity was a harvest, carefully planned and cultivated. Even now young children are being taken aside in different parts of the world, to have the seed of hatred and fanaticism planted in their lives for future harvests.
So how do we celebrate Harvest this year? It would be wrong not to celebrate the harvest we enjoy from the goodness of God’s earth. Certainly we give thanks, as ever, for the fruits of the earth in their season. We also give thanks for those who work so hard, the world over, to produce the harvests of the world. Alongside that this year, we need to remember, and pray for, all those in our rural community who are suffering hardship and despair as a result, directly or indirectly, of the Foot and Mouth epidemic. We must also, surely, continue to hold in our prayers, all those whose lives have been devastated by the terrorist atrocities in America, and who struggle to rebuild.
But the farmer never rests for long. No sooner is one harvest safely gathered in, than he is preparing for the next. As we are confronted by the stark contrast between the goodness and provision of the harvest of the soil and the harvest of the Spirit on the one hand, and the destruction and evil of the harvest of disease and terror on the other, we need to plan and prepare. As we sow, so shall we reap. What seeds are we planting, and what harvest will they bring? As we continue to face the results of the Foot and Mouth epidemic, perhaps its time to question the harvest of materialism and consumerism. The drive for profits and the demand for more food at lower prices, increases the pressure at every level. Perhaps we should be planting seeds of environmental concern, animal welfare and the acceptance of higher prices for better and safer conditions.
As we continue to become aware of the wider and long term implications of the terror in America, perhaps we should question how we should respond. If we respond to evil and hatred by planting seeds of hatred, we shall only reap that harvest. Certainly we want to root out evil, and plant seeds of justice, democracy and human rights where they are denied. Perhaps we also need to plant seeds of fair trade, equality of opportunity and programmes to provide homes and food for people, the world over, who are destitute. We need to ensure that conditions are not such as enable the seeds of hatred and fanaticism to grow.
Thank God for Harvest! … for the natural beauty and bounty of the wonderful world he has entrusted to our care. But let us also reflect on how we can all, as individuals, as a nation and as a world, ensure the seeds we plant, will bring the harvest of the Spirit in love, joy and peace.
Yours sincerely
Peter Lee
