Fr. Jeremy's Topic - September 2019
Thought for the week – Maidenhead Advertiser (Sept.26th 2019) .
At this time of year churches across the country will host Harvest festival services. The theme will focus on giving thanks for God’s provision for us. Those that take this idea seriously view the provisions as being on loan and that we are stewards of how we use that wealth or God’s creation.
This is a challenge for all of us and it is set before us in a story from Luke’s Gospel about a rich man who has a bumper harvest. He has a problem with storage. The listener hears the man discuss with himself in a soliloquy ‘What shall I do for I have no where to store my crops? I will do this I will pull down my barns and I will build larger ones and I will store all my grain and my goods.’ A more contemporary version can be heard at the Simpsons family dining room table. Bart’s grace before eating ‘Thank you God for nothing, we got this ourselves’.
One of the problems of modernity is that we believe as individuals that we control our own destiny. It’s perhaps the key issue at the heart of sustaining creation and facing up to climate change issues. Are we willing to make sacrifices?
Returning to the man and his barns, we are told he died that night. St Augustine of North Africa said ‘He (The man) did not realise that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than the barns.’
At our harvest service we have invited Sue Brett from the Brett Foundation who along side others have enabled Food Share to feed people in Maidenhead. It is a challenging question though as to whether we believe in God’s provision. Now just where did I put that lottery ticket?’
Jeremy Harris, Vicar of All Saints, Boyne Hill