{"id":960,"date":"2026-06-15T20:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revjane.co.uk\/?p=960"},"modified":"2026-06-15T20:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:47:10","slug":"bringing-in-the-harvest-taking-in-the-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revjane.co.uk\/?p=960","title":{"rendered":"Bringing in the Harvest – Taking in the Good"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Reflection #112 (21st September 2025 at Essex Church \/ Kensington Unitarians)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s good for us to set aside time once a year for a special service like this \u2013 a service of thanksgiving \u2013 and by timing it to coincide with the traditional harvest festivals (around the time of the autumn equinox) we can situate ourselves in a long line of generations who came before us and who held similar celebrations. In centuries past, I expect people would have been rather more keenly aware of the precarity of the harvest, particularly the vagaries of weather and disease, and all the factors that had to align for them and their families to get enough to eat. So it was natural to get to September and say \u2018the harvest is in, thank God, and it will see us through winter.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

But what about us, now, in the 21st century? Arguably it\u2019s even more important for us to keep up this annual autumn tradition in a time when many of us (especially city-dwellers) are somewhat alienated from the actual means of food production. Marking the harvest festival is, at its best, a way of reconnecting with the earth, acknowledging our ultimate dependence on it, and indeed our interdependence with all the people who grow and pick and pack and sell our food. In recent years we\u2019ve seen headlines about \u2018supply chain issues\u2019 and perhaps become more aware of how geopolitical events and climate change are impacting access to food. And I suspect most of us are all too aware of how economic inequality means the harvest is not being fairly distributed \u2013 collectively, we have enough food \u2013 but many still go hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So harvest is a double-edged festival, I think. It is, primarily, a celebration \u2013 it\u2019s about connecting with the very goodness of existence and some of life\u2019s simple pleasures \u2013 but it also insists that we remember those who are not enjoying life\u2019s bounty (and implicitly, calls on us to do something about it, share whatever good fortune we have).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we need to be remembering this more than once a year! Which is why I wanted to share that first reading, on \u2018Learning to Say Grace\u2019, from Norman Wirzba. I don\u2019t know if any of us gathered here today make a practice of saying grace at mealtimes? It\u2019s not something I grew up doing so it\u2019s not something that comes naturally to me. But I\u2019m wondering if it\u2019s something I might take up. I rather like the idea of a bite-sized spiritual practice (pun intended!) \u2013 something that could be built into the rhythm of my days \u2013 just to pause for a minute at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and give thanks. I reckon it would probably do us all good to have a tiny ritual we can do three times a day, to reconnect with a sense of gratitude, and refocus on all that is good in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I do think we should go further than giving thanks for our food, important as that is. That\u2019s why our service title today has two parts: \u2018Bringing in the Harvest \u2013 Taking in the Good\u2019. As well as the literal harvest of veg, fruit, grain, and all the rest, there\u2019s also a much broader metaphorical harvest to take into account, all the other blessings of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human world, right now, is a mess. In so many ways. It is easy to fall into despair about it all (I wouldn\u2019t blame you if you did). It is important to witness what\u2019s going on and to resist evil. But it is also important that we do not focus exclusively on the horrors. We need to be lifted up, in order to summon the strength to go on, stand up for what\u2019s right, do good, speak truth, create beauty, work for justice and peace. To paraphrase the old saying of Teresa of Avila, one of my favourites: to be the hands of God in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all the horrors, we are still here, for now, and it\u2019s a remarkable miracle that we popped into existence in the first place, we got a shot at this one wild and precious life.  Despite everything, here we are, and we have the chance to enjoy a cup of tea and a slice of cake (or a beetroot, or a plum, or any of the other harvest goodies on our table). So let\u2019s make sure we really enjoy it \u2013 savour it, relish it \u2013 be a bit more mindful of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fragment of a prayer-poem from M Barclay of the enfleshed collective came to me. They wrote this in April 2020 when we were all caught in pandemic-shock: \u2018Now is not a time for rushing past joy. Do not move too quickly from any good thing: not laughter nor a sight of beauty, not a taste, a feeling, a companion, or a truth. These are gifts, not to be wasted. Be generous in sharing. Linger and give thanks. Be excessive in awe. Just, do not hurry through them as if they are not precious in this season of grief.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that sentiment will serve us just as well in this current season of turbulence. As Rick Hanson said, our brains are Teflon for good experiences and Velcro for bad, it\u2019s just how we\u2019re wired by default. So, as a corrective, we need to actively practice \u2018taking in the good\u2019. Now is not a time for rushing past joy. Notice when good things happen, and imagine those positive experiences sinking into you, so you can carry them onward \u2013 just like you would with any other nourishment you take in \u2013 internalise them just as you would take the molecules from the food you eat into your cells, muscles, bones. Maybe someone has said a kind, encouraging affirming word to you. Really take it in. Maybe you have heard beautiful music, seen wonderful art or architecture, read an incredible book. Maybe you have spent time in an astonishing landscape or garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immerse yourself in all this goodness that still surrounds us, despite everything. See if you can fill in your own A-Z of gratitude (as an aside: that\u2019s a great exercise to do if you\u2019re struggling to get to sleep at night). And also, remember your own place in the interdependent web that makes all this goodness possible. You may also be the person who says the kind, encouraging, affirming word to another; who creates the music, makes the work of art, writes the book; who campaigns for the protection of nature, tends to the garden, makes the tea, bakes the cake, grows the beetroot or the plum. The ways in which we can \u2013 and already do \u2013 contribute to life\u2019s harvest are endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to close with a prayer for the harvest by my friend Laura Dobson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spirit of Life, Ground of Our Being, at this harvest-time,
\nwe give thanks for the gifts of nature, freely given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the abundance and beauty of this earth, we give thanks.
\nFor fertile soils, ripening crops and fruiting hedgerows, we give thanks.
\nFor bracing breezes and misty mornings, we give thanks.
\nFor cool evenings and spectacular sunsets, we give thanks.
\nFor dew glistening on spiders\u2019 webs, we give thanks.
\nFor the sumptuous scent of fallen leaves on damp earth, we give thanks.
\nFor the circling seasons, the dance of light and dark, we give thanks.
\nFor all the gifts of nature, freely given, we give thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the fruits of love and the gifts of friendship we harvest
\nhere in our beloved community, we give thanks.
\nFor the joys of sharing and growing
\nand flourishing together, we give thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the promise of harvest that lies in the seed,\nthe huge oak tree in the tiny acorn,\nthe sweet apple in the bitter pip, we give thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the promise, potentiality and possibilities of our lives, we give thanks. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection by Jane Blackall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n