Minster message - Harvest

- Submitted by Mary Anne Grand-layperson from Raymore United Church

August 26, 2025

key points from this story:

• Harvest 2025 has begun
• Farmers hope for dry, safe season
• Harvest brings uncertain prices, challenges
• Nature's hardships test patience and faith
• Spiritual harvest parallels farming journey
• God's love supports and guides daily

As I sit to write this message, harvest 2025 has begun. Fields are being swathed, making ready for the combines to soon follow to pick up those swaths. There are fields that the combines are straight cutting, eliminating the expense of going over the field twice. As the harvest rolls on, the hope and prayer of the farmer is the rain stays away, bins are filled to capacity and it is a safe one. There is also the price the grain will bring, will it be sufficient to pay all the expenses and have some left over for maybe a treat. But not always our prayers are answered, Mother Nature can throw a monkey wrench in as the saying goes. Wet weather, insects in the crop, early frost.

And then the breakdowns late at night when the mechanics have gone to bed, tired from there long day at the shop and out on service calls. There is also beauty to harvest, those golden swathes lying in the field, the magic of the pattern of the golden grain and to combine on a glorious moonlit night, that is peace.

God’s harvest is given to us each day that we walk this earth. Each morning we arise to a new day that God has given us, the beauty of the sunrise and the unknown of what the day may bring and it is given free. We have the freedom to make the best of this day, yes many have to go to work to keep the home fires burning, others can tend their gardens, others can enjoy their grandchildren ( a gift from God). God’s harvest is given to all to reap and like the farmer, things don’t always go as planed. But God walks in the swaths of our lives when life’s weather gives us hiccups, God gives us encouragement, showers us with love, faith, peace and carries us when we find the road to difficult to walk. God’s bountiful harvest is always there for each one of us as we travel this journey called life.

We may not always need that flower of patience or that tomato of kindness, but it is always there in an abundance waiting to be given at the asking. At the end of the day God’s harvest is there with a beautiful sunset filled with the memories of the day. A time for a much needed rest, a time to give thanks to a loving God who walks with us each day, who believes in us, who has faith in us, who forgives us when we cannot forgive ourselves. God is always with us, God’s love showers us each day, God walks beside us and keeps us safe. Thanks be to God. Amen.