A man went to see his Minister one day and complained, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The Minister answered, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man was stunned, and naturally complained, but the Minister insisted, "Do as I say and come back in a week."
A week later the man went back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he told the minister, "The goat is filthy." And so the minister said, “Then go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week." A radiant man returned to the minister a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat - only the nine of us."
As we celebrate harvest, a great feast of thanksgiving, we recognise also that our thanks are often relative to the place we find ourselves... What we so often take for granted, many would throw a party to celebrate if they had the same.
And for some of course saying thanks is easier than for others. There’s another story about a minister who was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning it was pouring with rain, and the wind was howling, and part of the Church roof had been damaged, and one church member said to a friend, "Certainly the preacher won't think of anything for which to thank the Lord for on a wretched day like this." Much to his surprise, however, the minister began by praying, "We thank you, O God, and praise you, that it is not always like this."
In the gospel reading a moment ago (Luke 8:4-8,11-15) we heard the parable of the sower. The sower went out to sow his seed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, some fell on the rock and it didn’t grow because of a lack of moisture, while some fell into good soil and produced a hunderedfold.
Jesus explained the parable as meaning the seed as the word of God – some people hear it and get distracted, others don’t really take it seriously and when their faith is tested, they turn away, whilst others recognise the lasting nature of the word of God, and live their lives based upon it.
And as we celebrate harvest I’d like to think of us, and the Church around us not as one of those categories of people, but as the land on which the seed has fallen. We live in a country with a pretty good climate for growing things – I’m not an expert on these things by any means, but I’m told that avoiding the extremes of too much heat or too much cold, or too much wet weather, or not enough rain is good.
Physically our country is in a pretty good state, but as we give thanks to God for that fact, and celebrate the wonderful gifts that he gives to each one of us, we must also look at the spiritual state of our land, and sadly that does not look quite so healthy. We live in a country where people are often apathetic about faith, and certainly the Church. We live in a country where the rights of Christians to stand up for their faith are often trampled upon in favour of political correctness (or madness whichever way you like to think of it). And we live in a country with so much whilst others have so little.
You can paint a fairly depressing picture with some of these thoughts if you carried on, but it would be wrong to spoil a harvest celebration by doing that, and it would also be wrong because it’s pointless. God does not begrudge us the things we have. Indeed he gives us gifts to use, but I’m sure he hopes that our response to what we have must be to show our thanks through the way we live our lives and in our treatment of others.
I am privileged in my job to meet some wonderful people who, though enduring great hardships themselves, always manage to see good around them, or worry about others who are suffering. Their hardships, however bad they may be, and sometimes they are very bad, seem insignificant to them, as they show concern for others. The joy of life with all of its hardships is a joy that is worth celebrating.
People like that are a wonderful example, and probably if we’re really honest with ourselves, every one of us could probably learn a little at times from that minister who saw the good in everything and managed to think of something to thank God for, and every one of us at times could probably enjoy life a little bit more if we realised just how blessed we are.
In the next hymn (‘Will you come and follow me if I but call your name’) we are challenged to answer the call of Jesus with thanksgiving, praising his name and telling of his glory, his love and his compassion for every one. As we move out later from this harvest celebration, may that be our lasting response to the gifts of God that we have and we receive. AMEN
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