The Sermon
By Joe, Reader at St Mary's.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Today, we have a ‘giving centre’ to our service where we give
supplies to the Archer Project, before we receive Christ’s body and
blood in the Eucharist.
We are reminded by the juxtaposition of these acts of service and
sacrament that Harvest is a moment to pause, give thanks, and
reflect on how God feeds and sustains us - not just through food and
the air and water we need to survive, but through Christ Himself.
Our readings from Philippians and John’s Gospel remind us that
harvest is not just about barns, bread and beans, but is also about
the deeper harvest of the spirit.
Paul, writing to the Philippians, is astonishingly upbeat. “Rejoice in
the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” This isn’t the voice of
someone with a full belly and a healthy larder. Paul is writing from
prison. He has known hunger, scarcity, rejection - but he insists that
joy is possible, even necessary.
He doesn’t say, “Rejoice because everything is going well.” He
doesn’t say, “Rejoice because you’ve got enough food for the
winter.” He says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” The joy he describes is not
tied to circumstances, but to God’s unchanging presence with us.
That is a lesson Harvest Festival still teaches us. We should be
grateful for the food before us, and the essentials of our lives. These
physical gifts, from God’s creation, also remind us that there is a
giver of the gifts, who has more, much more, to give.
Paul goes on: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God.”
This is … hard. Manchester, Gaza, Ukraine, the return of the threat
of fascism here in the UK, the rise of an authoritarian and corrupt
regime in the US, the constant drip - no, flood - of darkness and
anger in our news and social media feeds.
Even the process of growing food is affected, Climate change,
pollinators under threat, the risk to food supplies caused by war and
civil unrest, let alone the traditional problems of pests and inclement
weather are making things more and more uncertain.
To be honest, if we’re not a bit anxious, and probably a bit angry,
we’re not really paying attention.
Paul tells us that the antidote to worry is prayer laced with
thanksgiving. Gratitude does indeed change us. It shifts our vision
from what we lack to what we’ve been given. It doesn’t deny
hardship—but it places hardship in the larger context of God’s
abundance.
And notice the promise: “The peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds.” This peace is not
the absence of struggle, but the assurance that God’s presence is
with us in it. That’s a harvest of the Spirit that no physical drought or
angry, hate-filled floods of social media can destroy.
And so we turn to John’s Gospel. The crowds come looking for Jesus
after the feeding of the five thousand. And Jesus confronts them:
“You are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because
you ate your fill of the loaves.”
In other words, “You’re here because of the free lunch.” They want
another miracle meal. But Jesus redirects them: “Do not work for the
food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.”
It’s a challenge for us at harvest. We give thanks for the food that
sustains our bodies - but it rots, despite our best efforts to keep it
fresh. And its benefits are short-lived. We eat today, and tomorrow
we are hungry again.
The greater harvest is found in Christ: “I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes
in me will never be thirsty.”
Harvest is both physical and spiritual. We give thanks for the food
and resources that sustain us. But the harvest of grain and grape
come together in the Eucharistic Sacrament to become signs of the
Bread of Life. In the humanity and example of Christ, God gives a gift
to meet the deepest hunger of our hearts - the hunger for meaning,
love, forgiveness, hope.
Paul finishes his passage with a call to attentiveness: “Whatever is
true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable…think about these
things.”
What do we think about most? The news and social media ‘doom
scroll’, with its endless diet of fear and anger? The constant urge to
consume more, to measure ourselves by how much of the world’s
resources we swallow up?
Paul calls us to fill our minds with what nourishes. At harvest, this is
an invitation to see the world differently. To notice beauty, not the
ugliness of our greed. To remember justice, not to believe that
‘might is right’. To savour kindness, not be blindly hateful. To let our
imaginations be fed by God’s goodness, not starved by the world’s
anxieties and ephemeral priorities.
In other words: Let our minds themselves become fertile soil where
the gifts of the Spirit, and God’s peace, may take root and grow.
What does this mean for us today? Three simple takeaways:
First, gratitude. Let’s make thanksgiving a habit, not just a festival.
When we eat, let us pause to thank God for the food before us, and
for the unseen hands that prepared it - farmers, lorry drivers, shop
and factory workers. Gratitude makes us humble, and it opens us to
joy.
Second, generosity. A true harvest is never kept for ourselves. The
barns are meant to be opened, the baskets shared. Food banks today
are a reminder that while some live with plenty, others live with
empty cupboards. Our thanksgiving is hollow unless it leads to
sharing.
Third, put Christ front and centre. We do not live by bread alone. As
we receive the bread of the Eucharist, we remember that Christ is
our true nourishment. Harvest points us to Him - the one who feeds
our deepest hunger, who turns our anxiety into peace, and who is
the bread that endures to eternal life.
Harvest is a time of rejoicing of the world’s bounty, of preparation
for the coming winter; a hinge-point in the year. But deep meaning is
found in today’s readings. Paul reminds us to rejoice, to be thankful,
to think on what is good. John reminds us that beyond loaves and
fishes stands the one who is the Bread of Life.
So let us rejoice - not just in our food and our world, but in the God
who gives them.
Let us be thankful - not just in prayer today, but in habits of gratitude
that shape our daily living.
And let us turn again to Christ, who feeds us not just for today, but
for eternity, and show gratitude for the gifts of the spirit by using
them in our daily lives.
Amen.
