Sermon at West Grimstead Parish Church, West Grimstead Harvest Festival Morning Service -– Sunday 12th September 2021
It is lovely
to be back here at West Grimstead Church, and whilst I have taken a few
services at some of our other churches in the Clarendon Team it seems an
absolute age since I was addressing you here in this wonderful old church with
its magnificent Tree of Life window and to be back amongst friends on this special
occasion when we give thanks to God for the harvest and all the good gifts
which he gives us – “All good things around us are sent from heaven above” goes
that most famous of hymns which I can recite by heart after hearing it so many
times at school assemblies and harvest festivals throughout my life and
country.
How often,
though, do we stop and think about those words?
Each of the readings today emphasises this thought and shows a
consistently of approach throughout the bible – from the Exodus to the
teachings of the apostles; never to forget that everything which we have, our
wealth and the planet itself upon which we live, is a gift from God. I hope that we Christians think about it a
lot and perhaps it is the spreading of this message to everyone that is the
true mission of the Church.
We live in a
society where wealth and capital gain are applauded. We tend to make assumptions and obtain
impressions about people according to where they live, what car they drive,
what clubs or societies they join, how they dress and so on. Often it is with a view to gauging how
wealthy they are. In fact, we can often
decide whether somebody is worth getting to know better by such trappings
instead of looking deeply into the heart of the person.
You will
recall, for example, how God spoke to the prophet Samuel when he was sent out
to find and anoint a king to replace Saul and told him not to look upon the
outward appearance of the person because God sees beyond that into the heart of
the person.
As explained
earlier, each of our readings has, at the heart of this message, the importance
of recognising that everything in the Universe belongs to God and that he
provides everything for us. When the minister receives the collection during a
service and offers it up at the altar he uses the words “Of your own do we give
you O God” meaning that we are merely returning to him something of what he has
already given us.
We can do no
better, really, than look at each of the readings and examine the context in
which each of these messages was made.
In Deuteronomy we read of God bringing the Jews from out of captivity
into the Promised Land – a land of plenty, a land flowing with milk and
honey. The writer is reminding those
same people and their descendants not to forget the trials and tribulations
which the wanderings promoted and reminds them that God provided for them
throughout – water from desert rocks and manna from heaven. They have now been
delivered into a place of plenty – a land with good soil for crops and much mineral
wealth; everything for them to survive and thrive. However, this is not of
their own making but is a gift to the people from God. All He requires is that they obey the
commandments, which He gave Moses, for the people and to remember where such
wealth and riches came from. “Do not say that my own power and my own might
have gained me this wealth” God reminds the people, but acknowledge that what
God has given he can also take away. A
theme we will return to in our gospel reading.
In Paul’s
second letter to the Corinthians we read that famous line – one biblical
quotation my mother knew well – “God loves a cheerful giver”. When I was
growing up I was encouraged to share my sweets with others – lesson my parents
hoped would set me in good stead as an illustration of how I should live my
life. That wasn’t always easy I have to
say – better to choose sweets others didn’t like I thought! Paul isn’t talking about sweets of course, he
is talking generally about how we should live our lives. “You reap what you
sow” was another biblical quote from my parents – this time from my father.
This passage has been used on countless occasions by those who peddle the
“prosperity gospel” – God will award according to how much you give to the
Church. I don’t believe in that philosophy for one moment. God will only ever demand of you what you can
afford to give and that can be time and talent as well as money. The importance
is in the line about being a “cheerful giver”.
When you do give away anything – time, talent, money do so willingly and
with good grace. That is the importance of this passage.
Finally, let
us look at the gospel passage. For me this was one of the hardest passages
which I read as a young professional and still is today. Again a word from my father – he applauded
prudence in all things financial. As a
family we never had great wealth, we were living in northern town dependent on
its fishing industry which declined over the years of my childhood. When we did have any money we were careful to
save and not spend until it was absolutely necessary. It was a philosophy which
has remained with me until today.
Our rich man
in the gospel is acting prudently. He is
thinking that as he has done so well and amassed a great wealth in crops he can
do even better if he demolishes his current storehouses and builds bigger ones
to store more and more so he can settle down to a quiet enjoyable life living
off the gains of the past. In today’s
modern age many are doing just this – they earn more and more and open bigger
bank accounts – sometimes offshore. But
to what purpose? My grandfather was a sexton in a parish church in Norfolk and
assisted the local undertaker. When he died he left very little money. His
philosophy was that he had all that he needed for, he once told me : “I have
seen a good many bodies in their coffins over the years and I have never ever
seen pockets in a shroud! You can’t take
anything with you!” This was what the rich
fellow in the biblw was to find out.
I do not
think, for one moment, that God wants to punish the prudent – in fact I still
think prudency is a virtue, but it is the attitude that the person has towards
his wealth and what he does with it which God doesn’t like. The man in our gospel parable is collecting
and keeping and indeed intends to increase his wealth purely for himself. There is no hint of using that wealth for
others or sharing it. He is thinking
solely of the easy life which he could have. His life is taken from him – he
will never enjoy the fruits of his labour because of his selfish attitude
towards his wealth.
Here in this
church today we are sharing our wealth.
Never, in my lifetime, has it been so necessary with so many families on
the “bread line”. We are coming to
church this morning and presenting gifts of food back to God to be re-used for
those who are struggling because they are not wealthy, to those who wonder each
day where their daily bread is coming from. The Church’s Harvest Festivals have
two purposes. To remind us that everything comes from God and of his own do we
give him back and also to remind us of the needs and wants of others who are
less fortunate than ourselves and, rather than building bigger and better barns
for ourselves for our own use, we should share our excess products and wealth with
others less fortunate than us.
It has a
name – it’s called social justice and in my own mind this is the true purpose
of the Church. We are here to spread the
word of Jesus to others both by words and actions. He tells us in the gospels
that he came for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry. As James wrote – “I’ll show you my faith by
both words and actions for faith is hollow without actions”.
May God bless and preserve you and grant you all health and wealth – wealth to share amongst those less fortunate than ourselves. Let us be good examples of what social justice looks like – a glimpse of the kingdom of Heaven.
Amen MFB/164/10092021
