Last Sunday I made a really delicious beef brisket, even if I do say so say myself.
After seasoning the beef with salt and pepper and a little thyme, I seared it in oil. I then placed it on a bed of celery, carrots and white onion. Around this I then poured a mix of red wine and chopped tomatoes.
Finally, I added a bay leaf and a sprig of rosemary.
I’m not just boasting, I do have a point!
The beef on its own would have cooked dry and tough. And you wouldn’t consider eating a plate of rosemary for lunch or enjoying half a raw onion.
But together the dish was much more than the sum of its parts.
At Harvest we can picture the farmer, harvesting the individual crop, the potatoes, the barley, the grape.
But this is harvest, here at the altar, the items brought together.
And what does this mean for us personally?
Many of us have gifts, talents, hobbies, skills and passions.
We will have been working on and exploring these this year, maybe for many years. Lockdown will have given many of us more time than normal to nurture and tend to our hobbies and passions.
And now its time to harvest.
Its time to bear fruit and bring forth all that is possible thanks to the skills and talents God’s given you.
And maybe your gift, your skills seems small, pointless.
But what if you are the rosemary to someone’s brisket, the salt to someone’s chips, the tonic to someone’s gin!
Let us go to God in prayer.
This harvest we thank you for the abundance of food and water that those of us gathered today have access to. We thank you for fresh fruit, vegetables, running water and grains. We thank you for all those who have skills and talents to work and create, to turn apricots in to jam, grain in to bread, chickpeas in to hummus.
We thank you this harvest, for shelter, for warm beds, for the nurturing of friends and family, for those who we are lucky enough to enjoy a simple meal with someone else
We pray now for those who do not have access to the harvest, for those who go hungry.
Sadly, in 2020 it seems now, more than ever there are so many who go without food, without water, without shelter, without companionship.
We hold all of your hungry children up before you and ask for your almighty blessing upon them.
And you say to us Lord,” don’t just pray to me, you know what to do, you are my hands and my feet; so feed my children.”
Holy Spirit how can we bridge that destructive gap between those who access to the harvest and those who our systems block from it?
You call us to use our talents skills and passions to find creative ways to help those around us.
Too many of us feel we have nothing to offer and alone we do not feel we have the power! But Jesus you say when two or more are gathered you are there. Call us together to bring our skills and talents in to the mix, and there we find power as community, as church.
May we be like a delicious stew, a casserole, a trifle, each flavour enhancing the other, each one of us building up their neighbour.
For that person who feels their talent is silly, let them know right now that they are the icing to someone sponge cake.
For that person who keeps their skill hidden, let them know that their community need just that specific, herb or spice.
For that person who has never seen what their hobby could achieve, help them to see it is the oil that allows others to take their raw talents and create something beautiful/
Together, with you as our guide, we are more than the sum of our parts, we can bring the harvest to all.
Amen.
The Unexpected Prayer 