‘Be joyful in the Lord your God.’ - Joel 2:23
Friends, imagine you’re planning your birthday party. You’re going to have it in your garden. What do you need to plan? Probably food, cake, balloons, invites, and so much more. With help you work through the whole list and get everything sorted. You’re all ready, nothing to worry about, except maybe one thing! What is there which you really need to come good, but don’t have any control over? The weather, right! As your birthday gets closer you keep watching the weather forecast… is it going to be sunny? It’s really important it doesn’t rain, and it has been raining every day since you sent out the invitations. However, the day before the best weather presenter on TV tells you that tomorrow it’s going to be sunny. This weather presenter seems to always get it right, now you can turn your frown upside down! Now you don’t need to worry anymore.
Okay, now I want you to imagine you’re a farmer living in Africa. You eat whatever you grow, and if you don’t grow it, you won’t eat. So you plant your fields with great detail. What sort of things might you plant? Let’s imagine you have your carrots over there, and your cabbages over there…let’s imagine you have potatoes over here, and corn over here. You plant all the seeds at just the right time. You make sure they get enough water, you weed them, you take care of your fields and your plants as best you can. However, once you have done that, all you can do is pray and wait. How do you think the farmer feels as he waits? He feels worried! He needs his plants to grow if he is to have enough to eat. But then the farmer starts to see green shoots he starts to see something growing. He is still worried—lots can go wrong—but something at least is happening! He is worried until he sees the first fruit, until he sees the first vegetable. When he sees the corn ready to harvest, when he sees the cabbages ready to pick, he knows that everything has worked out, that God has taken care of him. The farmer still can’t see the carrots and the potatoes—they are underground—but the farmer stops worrying, and turns his frown upside down. Now he knows he will have enough to eat and, once that happens, he brings the first fruit—the first plants which are ready—he brings those to church to celebrate the Harvest, and to celebrate that God has kept His promises.
As we look back over the last twelve months, there will have been times when we’ve worn a frown! When we’ve been worried, we’ve been stressed, and we’ve had times of upset. Maybe you’ve been thinking will this sad time ever end? As Christians we know that God is with us and we’ve been looking forwards, looking for signs, looking for the green shoots of recovery. Oh yes, we’ve been frowning, and yes we’ve been worrying. However, our bible passages today remind us that if we follow God, that we do not need to worry as God will bring us through anything. In our first reading, when Joel speaks on behalf of God he points us to the harvest, he speaks to us as if we’re farmers, farmers looking forward to the harvest. Joel says:
‘be happy, people of Zion. Be joyful in the Lord your God. He is good and will give you rain. He will send the early rains and the late rains as before. The threshing floors will be filled with wheat, and the barrels will overflow with wine and olive oil.’
Joel reminds God’s people, Joel reminds the Church, that the harvest is a sign of all the good things to come. Therefore we can rejoice, we can have a party, we can celebrate even during difficult times because God will make things good, now or in eternity. Maybe you are not there yet but like the worried farmer—who starts smiling when he sees the first part of the harvest—so we can turn our frowns upside down because we know that God will see us through, that God will bring us to the end. When we remember that God is in control—that He is with us and will guide us through—we do not need to frown, we do not need to worry for we know He has everything in hand. As Jesus tells us in our Gospel reading:
‘Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.’
Because we know and trust God, we can be sure that He will see us through, and so we do not need to worry. Instead we should smile, and celebrate the good things God has already done and the good things God promises to do in the future, and look to see how we can spread this hope to the people around us. For as Jesus says, at the end of today’s reading:
‘What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need.’
This morning, then, as we celebrate Harvest, as we're reminded again that God provides for His people, let’s reflect upon what He has done in the last twelve months and then let us turn our frowns upside down, smile, and take God’s Good News to the world. Amen (from Fr Mike).