Harvest: reminder of reality
By Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream:
[…] Harvest reminds us not just that “all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above”, though that is true, and leads to thanksgiving and generosity. It also reminds us of the astonishing skill of the creator, which is so obvious that as Paul says in Romans 1, those who cannot or refuse to see it can only replace worship of the Creator with idolatry and ultimately a narcissistic focus on self. But also, the celebration of the harvest cycle, of our dependence on the ancient, unchanging, divinely ordained system for food, health and reproduction, reminds us especially in a context of environmental and moral breakdown, that we ignore or attempt to change at our peril the physical, biological and chemical realities which we inhabit…
…If we lose touch with what Harvest teaches about the nature of the physical world and our utter dependence on God; we elevate ourselves, we lose touch with true humanity and create in our minds what we think is a better, alternative one. The result is judgement, being “given over” to our sinful desires – resulting in a sense of entitlement instead of thanksgiving and generosity, environmental damage, alienation from one another. And, the detachment of the brave new world of our minds from the reality of our created bodies, which is part of the philosophy behind the sex and gender confusion in the West.
“No thanks I can create who I am and what I need my own way” would be a foolish way of responding to Harvest, just as “I’ll find my own way to God” is the wrong response to Christmas, and “I can sort out my own problems” the wrong response to Easter. God has put the systems in place so we can, with thanks, live within them.
This article was first published in October 2015.
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