And all ate and were satisfied and the disciples took up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of fish and bread (Mark 6:43)

When my mother goes into the centre of Coventry she often goes to a café called Druckers. It was under threat this week when its parent company, Patisserie Valerie, found itself with a fairly substantial financial black hole. There have been a number of café and restaurant chains that have come under pressure in the last year or so. Some say that there’s just too much competition. Certainly there seem to be plenty of places to go and eat if you get a bit peckish. In Lockerbie there are two chip shops, two curry take-aways, two cafés or, if you’re feeling a little more flush, six hotels serving food. No one’s going to starve.

Right there, in those five words, we hear the blessing of the harvest. We hear how God provides for our needs in ensuring that there is enough food in this world for everyone - and there is. Of course, it doesn’t appear magically out of the air like the manna in the desert. But the laws of nature that result in seeds germinating and in livestock growing are the outworking of the way God created this universe: in a sense his care for us is built into the very fabric of Creation. Our ability to understand these laws and to use them creatively to make our fields fertile and irrigate them, to provide care and nutrition for farm animals, they too are the gifts of God, built into our very nature as human beings; as children of God, made in the image of God.

So let us thank God for the blessing of the harvest: a harvest that feeds the hungry in such abundance that there is plenty for all with lots left over. The truth is that the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is a living working reality each and every year. The seed that was not needed last year to feed the hungry was enough to produce a crop big enough to feed every mouth and, again, have enough left over to feed everyone next year. This is the wonder of nature: nature which follows rules that God built into the very fabric of his creation. 

So let us thank God for the blessing of the harvest. Let us, too, remember that there are those who do go hungry. This has nothing whatever to do with God’s providence. It has everything to do with the economic and political systems through which food gets from the field and the farms to the mouths of the hungry. The harvest is not simply grown; it is bought and sold and where that happens - as with any commodity - folk with more wealth can get more than their share. If we believe, though, that the harvest is the blessing of God on humanity then, as the voice of God in the world, we have to insist that it is the will of God that all should be fed.

That goes back to some of the earliest rules the people of Israel adopted when they became settled in the land of Canaan. “Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.” It’s also visible in the earliest days of the Church that we read of in Acts, when the Church distributed food to the hungry among them and made sure that no one is in need. We all have opportunities to do that - through the work of charities and organisations like food banks. Folk like the Salvation Army do fantastic work - especially at Christmas - of living out the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand and carrying the blessing of the harvest to those who are hungry. Let us not stop wondering aloud, though, in the words of Dom Helder Camara, “When I feed the hungry they call me a saint. when I ask why they are hungry they call me a Communist.”

Let us thank God for the blessing of the harvest. Let us remember, too, that people still go hungry. Not just physically hungry when their stomachs are empty, but emotionally hungry, when their hearts cry out to be filled. In some ways we are fortunate in this part of the world where communities are still relatively small and folk often know each other. In our cities loneliness can be terrible - especially for the elderly, for the folk whose friends and relations all live far away, or who have passed on. Even in smaller communities, though, folk can feel isolated and alone - especially when they’re grieving the loss of someone they love. We tend to stay in our homes much more than we used to. Maybe we don’t visit our neighbours as much as we used to.

I was reminded last week, after the service. Most of us don’t meet starving or homeless people in our everyday lives. But we often do meet people in emotional need. Folk who need a shoulder to cry on, a friend to lean on, an ear to listen to them and a word of kindness to remind them that they are not alone. Take the harvest of tea and coffee. Maybe a little flour to make cake or a sandwich. When it’s shared with someone who’s hungry for a little companionship it can make all the difference.

So let us thank God for the blessing of the harvest. Let us remember, too, that people still go hungry. That there is still spiritual hunger in souls that cry out to be filled. We live in a society where people are taught that life has no purpose and no meaning. That they are consumers whose whole function in life is to accumulate as much stuff as they can and have as much fun as they can - that they should live for themselves and forget the needs of others. 

We are more than that. We are children of God, made in the image of God. We live in a world where people are being taught to shun religion; that it is simply a set of rules and outmoded beliefs. For that world we have a message that we need to be shouting from the rooftops and proclaimed in our words and our actions: that good religion, true religion, is about what it means to be truly human. For us, as Christians, it means letting people know that they are precious and loved beyond measure: that each and every one of them is worth, in the eyes of God, the life of his own son on the Cross. 

This, too, is the harvest of God - food for the soul. It is the message of God’s love for a humanity that so often stumbles and falls, but is encouraged to rise again and be brilliant. It is the message of God’s love for a humanity that son often turns in hatred and division on one another but can, through the love of God, offer the hand of peace and fellowship to the stranger and the enemy. It is the message of God’s love for a humanity that so often succumbs to greed and selfishness but which can, through the grace of God, be kind and generous and compassionate.

So let us thank God for the blessings of the harvest. Let us rejoice, too, in the opportunities it offers us to feed the hungry. To feed those whose stomachs are empty - even if it’s just a bag of rice given to a food bank. To feed those whose hearts feel empty - even if it’s just through a phone call. To feed those whose souls need nourishment - even if it’s just by reminding them that they have one and that they matter. In the opportunities God gives us to tend his harvest.

Father, we thank you for the blessings of the harvest. We thank you, too, for the chances we have to tend your harvest by showing folk that you love them

Preached at Kirkpatrick-Fleming parish church