“GENEROUS HARVEST”
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Acts 4:32 “…They shared
everything they had”
The G20
has been meeting again this week -
the political giants of the planet
seeking to deal with the economic needs of the world.
We pray wisdom for the leaders of the nations -
but we also need to recall that feeding the poor and the needy
can and must also be the work of ordinary people.
This
year’s Christian Aid Harvest Poster
features a lady called Chandramma Moligeri.
Chandramma was born a ‘weeder’.
As a dalit woman, she worked for most of her life in
others’ fields,
in exchange for grain or small amounts of money.
Struggling to feed her family and with little chance
of escaping the legacy of the Indian caste system,
she lived unnoticed on the margins of society.
But out of
the most severe poverty
came an incredible story of rich generosity...
Chandramma’s life was turned around
when she joined a local women’s group, or sangham,
supported by Christian Aid partner
the Deccan Development Society (DDS).
These women cleared an area
of drought-prone wasteland and farmed it,
using traditional methods learned from
DDS.
Slowly,
they restored life to their land.
And then they brought the celebration of an enormous harvest
to their whole community.
In sanghams across the Medak
district in Andhra Pradesh,
DDS now works with 5,000 women.
These women have decided to do something amazing.
From their excess harvest, they have helped to feed
50,000 of the poorest people in their communities.
And the women are now passing on their knowledge,
helping communities throughout Andhra Pradesh
to share in the joy of harvest.
Here is a story of generosity -
not the generosity of the extravagantly rich,
but the generosity of ordinary people sharing what they have -
a story of not 5000 but 50000 being fed.
This
was the way the very first Christians in Jerusalem
appear to have worked -
some had significant possessions, others not,
but what is clear in Acts 4 is that they took it for granted
that they cared for each other - so that no one went hungry.
As spiritual heirs of those first Church
members, we are also called
at harvest to time to show thanks through our generosity -
to take our labour and skill (like the women of Andrha
Pradesh)
and use it to transform the arid waste lands of the lives of others.
And thus is to be part of the miracle foretold by Scripture,
when the arid places shall be fruitful and the desert bloom like a rose.
Here
is a less happy story.
It is about the West Bank village of Auja near
Jericho -
The fields of this village had always received their waters
from the Ein Al-Auja stream
coming from the surrounding hills.
In recent years, the citrus trees have been dying and the villagers leaving -
for the stream has run dry.
A visitor describes what had happened -
“At the end of an uphill track,
the source where the waters tumbled out from the hills
was walled around and guarded by a couple of soldiers.
You could see how its flow had been diverted
away from the Arab village into what were now
the lush fields of a new Israeli settlement.
A little blue pearl of a swimming pool sparkled among the new buildings.
The
writer of this piece adds
“Some weeks later I saw a photo of this settlement,
or one very much like it,
its bright green patchwork an apparent miracle in a dry land.
It featured in a tourist leaflet celebrating how Israeli ingenuity
had ‘made the desert bloom’”.
I tell this story not principally by way of criticism
of Israel
(though of course every government must answer for its deeds) -
but rather I tell the story as a challenge to us in our land.
Whose streams do we dam and divert?
At whose cost is our harvest?
Whose fields do we water?
And if indeed we make the desert bloom,
do we do so in the spirit of cornering the market on life for our own benefit,
or in the spirit of generous sharing of what we can create and grow?
The
Anglo Saxon treasure dug up in Staffordshire this week
is apparently worth millions -
not of course that it did much good to the warlord
or whoever it was who buried it 1500 years ago -
He might have been a bit upset if he ‘d known
how long it was before anyone found his loot.
Scripture reminds us to rely on real treasure
- not material wealth -
even the richest treasure trove of gold and jewels
is as nothing compared with the heavenly treasure
of love and peace and joy in God’s presence and service.
We thank God for the riches he pours out on
us.
We thank God for the women of Andhra Pradesh
who through sharing the good things of life
have made the desert bloom not only for themselves
but for their needy sisters & brothers.
We thank God for our harvest
Let us go and do likewise.
Sources:
The story of Chandramma -
Christian Aid Harvest resource material 2009
The story of Aruja - Martin
Wright and Jonathan Porritt, A
River Runs through it” in “Voices for Peace” Scribner 2001, p231,
Order of Service
Harvest
Festival Sunday 27th September 2008 10.30 a.m.
All Age Worship led by Rev Andrew Sails
Welcome and Notices
Introit: “Look at the
World” - John Rutter (Choir)
Hymn 351 “We plough the fields and
scatter”
[During this hymn, harvest gifts are brought
forward]
Prayer
Talking about the Harvest
Hymn:
“Great God of all Seasons”
(© John Coutts CCLI No 58752 Tune HAP 9 St Denio)
[During this hymn the young people leave for their
sessions]
Readings: Acts 4:32-37 (p.1096)
Matthew 6:19-24 (p.971)
Sermon: “Feeding the 50,000”
Hymn “Beauty for
Brokenness”
[Graham Kendrick © 1993 Make Way Music, NHWS 22 CCLI
No 58752]
[During this hymn, young people return]
Young People talk about
their activity session
Collection for Church
Funds and Christian Aid
Choir: “The Heavens
are Telling” from Haydn’s Creation
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
The
firmament displays the wonder of his works.
To day that is coming speaks it the day,
The night that is gone, to
following night.
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
The
firmament displays the wonder of his works.
In all the land resounds the word,
Never unperceived, ever
understood.
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
The
firmament displays the wonder of his works.
Prayers and
Lord’s Prayer
Hymn
355 “Come, ye
thankful people come”
1. 감사하는 성도여
추수찬송
부르세 추운 겨울 오기전 염려없게
거뒀네
하나님이 우리게
일용양식
주시니 주의 전에 모여서 추수 찬송 부르세
2. 이
세상은 밭이요 주는 씨를 뿌리네 좋은 곡식 싹 날
때 가라지도 나도다
싹과 잎이
자라서 열매 맺게 되나니 우리들을
온전한 알곡되게
합소서
3. 우리 주님
오셔서 곡식 거둬 들이고 밭에 있는 나쁜 것 모두 소멸하실 때
가라지는 골라서
불에 던져 태우고 알곡들은
곳간에 길이 쌓아 두시리
4. 주여 어서
오셔서 우리 거둬 줍소서 죄와 슬픔 중에서 우리 건져 줍소서
모든 성도
영원히 하늘 집에 이르러 천군천사
어울려 추수찬송
부르리
Blessing