Letter from the Pulpit – Well the Rectory Office!
Harvest from the sea
This year’s harvest service will be held on the 14 th October.
It will not be the usual wheat sheaf and plough service; this one will
celebrate the harvest of the sea, and the men and women who go to fish; as
well as those who go to rescue people from the perils of the waves.
When preparing this letter, I came across this sailor’s paraphrase of psalm
23:
The Lord is my pilot, I shall not
drift.
He guides me across the dark
waters.
He steers me through deep
channels.
He keeps my log.
Yea, though I sail ‘mid the
thunders
and tempest of life,
I shall dread no anger, for He is
with me;
His love and His care, shelter me.
He prepares a quiet harbour
before me.
He anoints the waves with oil
My ship rides calmly.
Surely sunlight and starlight
shall guide me on the voyage I
take,
And I will rest in the heaven's port
forever
Captain John H Roberts: 1874
What A wonderful and powerful prayer of praise and thanks.
All through the bible harvest time is mentioned; 61 times to be precise. The
harvest accounts that we read of are both encouragements to the people of
the time to keep growing crops in a hard often barren land, and a timeless
encouragement to plant the seeds of God in the people around us so that
they can be harvested for Him when the time is right. There are also the
accounts of the fishermen being called by Jesus to follow Him, so that they
may become fishers of men – and us women!
In whichever way we think about the harvest at this time of year, we give
thanks. We thank God for His provision of food, we give thanks for the
farmers or fishermen, we give thanks that we live in the west where the food
is plentiful, the skills to reap are high, and our bellies are full.
To add to that bumper crop of thank you we will give thanks for the work of
the RNLI, for those people who risk their lives for others on a daily basis, or
those who deploy them. As an island nation we need this provision for
sailors, fishermen, pleasure boats, sailing ships, and errant canoeists!
Don’t ask!!! We need them to save the drowning, to rescue the broken, to
bring home a harvest from the sea that is not fish.
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