As our Benefice churches hold their usual Harvest festivals, we must all be keenly aware that the harvest itself has largely been poor. A local farmer told me that his yield is only 30% of what it should be – a shocking statistic. The NFU have warned that there could be a shortage of certain food products this year because of the debilitating combination of drought and extreme heat.
The president of the National Farmers’ Union, Tom Bradshaw, said yields of wheat and oats were “very, very poor” and warned many livestock farmers have had to use their winter feed rations because they have been unable to grow grass.
I was asked whether we should even be ‘celebrating’ harvest this year. My response was that we need to recognise and attend to the difficulties of this year’s harvest, but still celebrate the farmers who are continuing to work so hard, in such difficult conditions, to provide us with the food upon which we are utterly dependent.
It’s also an opportunity, at harvest time to consider how our own lives can offer more of a harvest. The night before he died, Jesus urged his disciples to give glory to God by bearing ‘much fruit’ and St Paul urged the first Christians to ‘live your life in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ’. He spoke of living a life of ‘fruitful labour’, even at a point when he himself was in prison and facing a likely death sentence.
What Paul wanted us to recognise is that Gospel living is never about finding an easy way out, not while there is work still to be done. Even in the most ‘drought-ridden’ circumstances, Paul realises that he still has the opportunity to be a bringer of inspiration and purpose to others; even more so because of his own difficulties. Rather than giving into apathetic despair, he writes words full of encouragement and friendship; finding hope for himself even as he gifts hope to others.
So, this harvest, let us ponder how we can live more fruitful lives. Like Paul, let’s look out beyond ourselves and our own difficulties, to see what we can do for others, how we can stand alongside and support one another, refusing to give in to negativity and doom-mongering. May we seek in every way possible, as Paul did, to be an encouragement to others, a lifter of spirits, a bearer of fruit.
Revd Kate McFarlane