This reflection first appeared as a Sunday Morning Thought on Rutland and Stamford Sound on Sunday 22nd September 2024

This week, our church hosted Langham primary school’s Harvest service. The whole school along with many parents and grandparents came to Langham church to celebrate Harvest.

For many parts of the UK, festivals like Harvest can often go overlooked compared to that of Christmas and Easter. But for Rutland, a predominately rural community, Harvest still occupies a significant space in our calendars. Farming plays a huge part in our local community and most Rutlanders either know someone in farming or have a background in farming themselves. So, many of us our aware how important Harvest is to farmers – it’s the make or break point of the farming year.

This year has been a challenging year for farming. Between 2023 and 2024, the UK experienced the wettest eighteen months on record. This heavy rainfall has prevented many farmers from planting their crops on time, and as a result, many harvest yields are down compared to previous years.

The challenge of the Harvest this year reminds us how hard farming is, and also how easily it can go wrong. It reminds us how so much of farming is beyond the control of farmers. It requires a strong degree of faith and hope.

The Harvest hymn, We Plough the Fields and Scatter, leads us to sing:

“All good gifts around us

are sent from heaven above.

So thank the Lord, thank the Lord,

for all his love.”

The Harvest we have isn’t a certainty but rather a gift. A gift we have hoped and longed for, and a gift that many farmers would have earnestly prayed for this year. It’s been a difficult year for the Harvest, and so it’s a joy to have what we have harvested. We receive it as a good gift from heaven above. So thank the Lord, thank the Lord, for all his love.