HARVEST SERVICE 2018.

Responsive Prayer to the God of Harvest

Pastor:  Let us all pray to the God of Harvest and Grace!

All:    All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. So, we lift our hearts up to you, God.

Pastor: God of honey and harvest, of grain and grape, of ocean and orchard; of vineyards and vegetables. We praise You for the abundance, and we pray that this harvest is shared justly as Your gift.

All:    All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. So, we lift our hearts up to you, God.

Pastor:  God of beehives and breadbaskets, of living webs and weaving of life, of ecosystems and economy. We praise You for the wealth of the harvest, and we pray that this harvest is a promise of grace for all.

All:    All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. So, we lift our hearts up to you, God.

Pastor:  God of bumble-bees and blue whales, of evolution and environment, of ice-field and

star-field. We praise You for the sheer wonder of the world, and we pray that this harvest is about the wealth of Your generosity reflected in our generosity. 

All:    All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. So, we lift our hearts up to you, God.

Pastor:  God of creation and care. We cannot sow our seed with clenched fists. Help us to open our hands, so that we too may scatter with hope and generosity our seeds of joy, peace and justice.

All:      All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. So, we lift our hearts up to you, God, in praise and thanksgiving! AMEN.

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Sermon Harvest 2018.

Once upon a time there was a very old man called Moses. He had had a lot of children, and then they had children, and thus he became the grandfather of a lot of children. One day all the children came running to him, their old grandfather, as they wanted to ask him something:

“Grandpa, Grandpa, Morfar, morfar, farfar, farfar,” they shouted:

“Where does all things come from? Where does the apples come from?

Where does the pumpkins comes from? Where does the eggs come from, - and where, Grandpa, does alle the little children come from?” Well, well, well,” the old Moses said, “don’t you know that: An apple comes from an Appletree, a pumpkin grows on a pumpkin plant, and the eggs come from a chicken.”

“No, no, no,” the kids replied” We know that. We are not stupid! But, where does the apple trees comes from then? Where does the pumpkin plants come from, and where does the chicken come from ? “

“ Well, well, well,” old Moses said,” I do know that you are not stupid, after all you are my grandkids! But…. the Appletree comes from an Appleseed hidden in the apple, “ and old Moses took an apple and his pocketknife, cut the apple in two and showed them the seeds.

“ Look, at this tiny seed! If you plant this seed in the earth, and water it, nourish it, tend it and fertilize it, it can become a big Appletree that will give you hundreds of apples in time. And this… pumpkin, also has seeds in it. Plant one of these, and you will harvest new pumpkins. And then chickens they all came out of an egg that another chicken had made….. and the children. Didn’t your parents tell you how children were made,”  Old Moses asked with a twinkle in his old eyes.

“ The children come from children seeds sown in the womb of the woman. I thought you knew, my clever grandchildren. The details you parents can fill in!”

“ Grandpa, grandpa, morfar, morfar, farfar farfar. We know that. We are not as stupid as we might look! We know all that, but: If the apple comes from an Appletree, an the Appletree from an apple, and if the egg comes from a chicken, and the chicken from an egg. How did it all begin… how did it all start? Where did the first apple come from, where did the first pumpkin come from, where did the first chicken come from, - and where did the first humans come from ? That is what we want to know!!!

“Oh, well, well, well” old Moses said,” that is the story you want to hear. “Well, it is said that the very very first Appletree, was made by God, along with the very very first pumpkin plant, the first, fish, the first chicken, the first flowers, the first cucumbers and the first children too. And when he had made all the trees, all the plants, then he said to the humans that he also made: “Look, I have made all these for you. You may eat from it, just remember to be kind enough to share with each other. And I will leave the trees and plants in your care. And God also said to the humans that they should never be so busy that they forgot to make children.  Cause we need trees, plants, animals and children, dont we?’

“Yes, grandpa, we do!” the kids shouted.

There was one little very wise girl, that asked:’” But Grandpa, morfar….” Tell me, if God made all the trees, the plants, the animals and the humans, who made God?”

“God has always been there,” the old Moses aid. “He has no beginning nor an end. He is yesterday, today and tomorrow. God is the very source of it all. That is the mystery and that is the simple truth,“ Moses said.

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Well, Old Moses also got great-grandchildren and great great grandchildren. And all the children did enjoy eating apples, pumpkin, cucumbers, pomegranates:  and some of the children were so blessed that they were invited to attend a Harvest service, where you say Thank You for all wonderful things given to us: food, family, friends. And we are reminded that we should take good care of the trees, plants, animals and each other, - and that God asked us to share with one another. All of us parents, grandparents, uncles or aunts have tried to get these questions: Where does the apples come from?

An in a more adult sophisticated way it is the causality dilemma stated as “which came first: the chicken or the egg?”

The question of whether the egg or the chicken came first has confounded many of us and have intrigued humans since the day of dawn. Which came first, the chicken or the egg. The chicken, no the egg, the chicken, no the egg. It is enough to make your head spin right off your neck, isn’t it! We might all have been the questions and through the logic, but most of us end up the same place. As Luna Lovegood, the dreamy yet dotty which from Harry Potter put it when sked the riddle: “ A circle has no beginning!”

Or we look to God, in awe, in wonder, in faith and in hope. As old Moses stated: God has no beginning and no end. He is indeed alfa and omega. He is today, yesterday and tomorrow. He is the source of this creation and all the blessings we watch in awe and discuss in wonder. And we do… not only the kids ask good questions, we do to. Mankind has been asking questions since the dawn of time, and the more we unfold and understand, the more questions we ask. In the Old Testament it says: “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. “ 

We often say that there is a distinct difference and enmity between religion and science, between faith and science. But that is a mistakenly narrow assumption. Science try to figure out how and when and where, while religion try to figure out why. As humans we need both dimensions, as we try to grasp life, our experiences, our encounters, our skills, our intellect and our world. Science and faith are fueled by the same awe and wonder. The zest to understand more about the world and our lives. To ask more questions like: which came first the chicken or the egg? Today, as we celebrate Harvest and give thanks for all the fruits of creations, the grains of harvest, the food on our tables, the families of ours, - we do so in great awe and wonder of the majestic wonderful creation. And along with old grandpa Moses, and all scientist and all believers we sing with Louis Armstrong today:

What a Wonderful World.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people goin' by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin'
"How do you do?"
They're really sayin',
"I love you."

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world!”