HARVEST FESTIVAL
OCTOBER
21, 2003
A
friend of mine in New Haven
once worked for a group that helped new immigrants from Russia. She and
a translator took a middle-aged woman who had just arrived in this country to a
local Stop and Shop so she could buy some initial groceries for her family. The
entrance to the store put them in the produce section and my friend and the
translator were pushing the grocery cart toward the fruit area when the Russian
woman, turned around and practically ran out of the store.
They
found her outside, weeping, terribly distraught. The Russian woman was so upset
that it took several minutes before she could tell the translator what was
wrong. Then the translator embraced the woman and tried to comfort her. The
Russian kept crying, saying the same phrase over and over.
My
friend kept asking, “What’s wrong? What is she saying?”
The
translator shook her head and smiled a sad but knowing smile. “She is saying, ‘too much…too much…too much…,’ “ the
translator said. “she has never seen so much food at one time….”
My
friend told me this: “I’ll never look at a super market the same way again.
What we take for granted is simply too much….”
Today
we celebrate the Harvest Festival. There are at least two reasons for this
celebration. The first is to remember how gracious God has been to us and how
bountiful God’s good earth is. It is to remind us that all good gifts come from
God and that we should be thankful and grateful in our hearts and lives. We
have been given, as were the Hebrew Children in today’s lesson from
Deuteronomy, a “good land”. And like them, we must “bless the Lord for the good
land he has given” us.
But
the second reason for this celebration is even more important than that. It is
good and right that we acknowledge the gifts God has given us—but the more
compelling reason for celebrating the Harvest is this: how are we to respond to God’s goodness?
Being
“thankful” is a beginning—but it is only a beginning.
*
A
story…that’s what we need…a fable to teach us what to do.
Two
tramps named Aaron and Silas—poor men with no future—were sleeping in a field
one night. Silas couldn’t get comfortable because there was something under
him. He woke Aaron up and the two of them dug, with their hands, in the soft
ground beneath Silas’ tattered blanket.
Lo
and behold, they uncovered a treasure of diamonds and gold and fine pearls—a
treasure worth a kingdom. They divided the treasure equally and then both of
them fell on their faces and thanked God for such an astonishing blessing. The
two tramps—now rich beyond imagining—embraced and told each other that they had
been richly blessed by God.
Then
they parted at the dawn, each carrying their blessings with them. In the years
to come Aaron used his wealth to accumulate more wealth. He became richer—rich
enough to buy power and influence and become a man of importance.
Silas
lived out his life well, but simply, sharing his blessings with those he had
known as a tramp and giving away most of his treasure, keeping only enough to
be warm and safe and content.
As
fate would have it, Aaron and Silas died in the same moment—Aaron in his
mansion and Silas in his humble but comfortable home—and they appeared
simultaneously before the Judgment Seat of God.
God
spoke and said, “Aaron, you must go away from me into the Great Darkness. And
Silas, you must come closer to me into the Light Eternal.”
Aaron
was incensed and confused. “How can this be, O Holy One? Silas and I were blessed
by you at the same time. Surely that blessing shows that we were equally
righteous. And we both gave praise to you for your gracious gift to us. So why
must I leave your presence now while Silas enters in nearer to your Glory? We
were both blessed….”
And
the Great God Almighty sighed in sadness. “Oh, Aaron,” God said, “I do love you
as I love Silas and I did bless you as I blessed Silas. And I gloried in both
of your thanksgivings to me. But there is this: my blessing wasn’t to reward you
for what you had done to deserve it—my blessing was to reward you for what you would
do with it....”
As
we celebrate God’s goodness and blessings to us today our hearts are full of
thanksgiving. The praise we give to God today for all God’s gifts to us will be
treasured in the heart of God. And that is a beginning.
But
it is only a beginning.
God
hasn’t blessed us to “reward” us for what we have done to deserve it. God has
blessed us to reward us for what we will do with the gifts we have received.
The
blessing isn’t ours until we give it away. The only gift that matters is the gift
we pass on.
This
is not the way our world works. Our world works on accumulating and saving and
“having” and keeping.
But
this is the way God’s economy works. God’s economy works on distributing and
sharing and giving away.
We
are blessed, not because we deserve it.
We
are blessed for what we will do with our blessings.
Symbolically,
we will give away the richness of the Harvest on the altar today. The bounty of
the harvest from the Sharon
House Garden
and from the food individuals have brought today will go to the Soup Kitchen
and to Jubilee Harvest. We do that as a symbol. Symbols are powerful things
because they are visible and point
to and include something else that is not visible.
We
can see what’s on the altar. All that “symbolizes” what we can’t see—the
“blessings” God has given us, the “treasure” of our lives and resources and
energy and talents and our time.
What’s
on the altar today POINTS TO AND INCLUDES all that we are, all that we have,
all that we can be.
What
we “do” with all that is what really matters.
I
want to give us a few minutes of silence so that we can reflect on and
acknowledge and give thanks for the many blessings and gifts and treasures God
has given to each of us.
Give
thanks to God for all that God has given you.
Your
thanksgiving is a beginning. But it only a beginning.
And
then ponder, ponder for a moment, what you are going to do with those blessings
and gifts and treasures.
Ponder
and consider and reflect on what God would have you DO with all that you’ve been
given….
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