Sermon
Preached by Rev Coralie McCluskey
at All Saints Datchworth
Sunday morning - 3 October 2004
Harvest Festival
Once upon a time
in a far-off land there was a most unpleasant tyrant.
He held a fierce
grip over all parts of his kingdom, except
for one particular area. He was unable
to destroy the people's belief in God.
One
day he
called his government together and asked them: "Where can I hide God so
that the people will end up forgetting him?"
One advisor
suggested that God be hidden on the dark side of the moon.
This proposal was debated for some time,
but
voted down because it was believed that one day scientists would
discover a way
of getting to the moon and God would end up being found again.
Another advisor
to the tyrant came up with idea of burying God beneath the depths of
the ocean
floor. This was voted down because it
was felt that scientific advancement would lead to the discovery of God
even
beneath the depths of the ocean floor.
Finally the
oldest and wisest of the advisors had a flash of insight.
"I know", he said, "why don't
we hide God where no one will ever think of finding him?"
And he went on to explain, "If we hide
God in the ordinary events of people's everyday lives they'll never
find
him."
And so it was
done - and they say that people are still looking for God - even today.
Today is a
special day because it is one time in the church’s calendar when we
really
focus on God, on creation and the beauty and abundance of God’s gifts
to us. At
harvest festival we see God and what he does in the normal and routine
parts of
our lives a little more clearly than we normally do.
Of course today
it helps that the Church is decorated so beautifully, we can see the
glories of
creation both inside, and outside where the leaves are changing colour
and as
long as we don’t have too much rain we’ll soon be able to scrunch our
way
through them when we are out walking. It
is also the time of the year when the low sun gives a new depth and
warmth to
the colours all around us. And of course
there are all those traditional fruits and vegetables in plentiful
supply in
the Autumn, apples and pears and the blackberries I’ve been picking.
The very
atmosphere at this time of year seems to encourage us to pause and to
identify
just how blessed we are, just how much we are subjects of God's grace,
generosity and the need to give thanks.
So we rejoice
and thank God that he has provided for us so well, we also have a care
for
others that do not live so well, our giving today goes towards the
Bishop’s
Harvest for the hungry Appeal and tomorrow the children from All Saints
school
will be bringing gifts of tinned food and toiletries for the Open Door
Project
for homeless people in St Albans.
That’s enough
about the harvest of the earth now I want us, just for a few moments,
to think
about another type of harvest – the spiritual harvest.
We have a duty
to cultivate the life of the spirit, to feed our spiritual life, our
soul, so
that we may not merely share in worship and Godly things here at All
Saints but
shine out for all the world to see.
In the Gospel
reading this morning the crowds who were gathering around Jesus, the
crowds who
had the day before been present at the feeding of the five thousand,
were
looking for him and when they found him say, Rabbi when
did you come here? And the subtext could be why did you
go away, you are doing wonderful things we want to make you a king, a
king like
other kings, a worldly king, who will lead us in our strong worldly
agendas. But Jesus rebukes them, very truly I tell you, you are looking for
me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but
for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will
give you.
Last night many
of us ate a wonderful harvest supper, we were fed as the crowd were fed
at the
feeding of the 5000, as the Israelites were fed with manna as Moses was
leading
them through the wilderness.
Today we need
to
remember and to reflect on what God was doing, what God was demanding
of the
people then and still demands today. Jesus
says to crowd it was not Moses who
fed the people, it was God, it
is God who is at work in everything I am doing. So
the crowd ask for another sign, Jesus
doesn’t answer their request
for a further sign, but points out that the real answer to their
question is
standing in front of them. Moses was
only God’s agent, the manna that dropped from the sky, that God was
providing,
was the spiritual nourishment that kept alive the Israelites faith and
hope,
and so the crowds say to Jesus, Sir give
us this bread always. Jesus replies, I
am the bread of life. Whoever comes to
me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be
thirsty. Until
the crowds recognise who Jesus really is, they may be fed with bread
and fish,
but the deep hunger inside them will never be satisfied.
Each autumn we
want to be able to celebrate a rich earthly harvest, to see the glory
of God in
all its colour, beauty and abundance. But
every day is a day of harvest for
the spirit. If our spirit is to be
nourished, if we are
to shine with the golden light of Christ in our communities, we need to
open
our hearts and minds to God who is present in the ordinary events of
people’s
everyday lives. We don’t have to wait
for Sunday we need, through daily prayer, scripture, the sacraments and
being
aware of God in routine of our daily lives, there in the middle not
hidden away
but guiding, sustaining and calling us to take the light of Christ into
our
community and into the world. Amen.
