At harvest time we should remember that everyone matters
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Rev Janet Easton-Berry, Pentland Parish
It is a wonderful sight to drive around Caithness and see the beautiful fields with hay bales all rolled and ready to be stored and used during the winter.
We celebrated harvest festival in church last Sunday and living in a rural area it seems even more pertinent.
Harvest time is seen as a time of great rejoicing and thankfulness to God for provision, and in days gone by the harvest festival would be a time of celebration with worshipping God, story-telling, laughing, eating and drinking and plenty of dancing.
Harvest is also a time when God reminds us of our responsibility to the poor and needy. In biblical days these were the widows, orphans and sojourners (or refugees/immigrants) who had no home or rights in the country.
God cares for everyone – everyone matters to God and he laid down certain provisions: the fruit that fell from the trees was to be left for the poor; the olive pickers were only allowed one pick of the trees, anything left was for the poor. This applied to grapes as well. The well-loved story of Ruth shows us that the gleanings of the corn fields were also left for the poor, both that which the reapers dropped and the edges of the fields.
Harvest is a time to give thanks to God for all our provision and to share what we have with others.
Everyone matters to God.
