Many of us will be familiar with the story Jesus told his disciples known as the ‘parable of the sower’ (Matthew 13.1-9,18-23), which demonstrated the spiritual reality that sadly not every heart would be open to the ‘Word of God’ like seed sown on good soil – but rather, like seed that was eaten by birds on a path, scorched by the sun in rocky places or choked by thorns and thistles, would be destroyed and rejected by those whose hearts were influenced, shaped and hardened by the worries, cares and problems of the world,  resulting in what appears to be at first glance, a massive 75% failure rate!

But even if we put the spiritual metaphors to one side for a moment, and take the parable ‘literally’, it still speaks to us, because it chimes with what we understand and see going on around us at the present time. The ongoing war in Ukraine has been a disaster for the world’s food store. Because of damage to fields and farms, 40% fewer crops have been planted in 2023 than the year before. The lack of fertiliser has literally left many crops struggling to grow against thorns, thistles, and weeds. Many farmers have therefore switched to growing easier oil-based crops such as sunflowers, resulting in the fact that this year’s grain harvest is even smaller than before. The ‘rocky ground’ left by an overabundance of military ordinance, such as landmines, has left a deadly legacy so that many fear to gather the crops, and now that Russia has pulled out of its Black Sea crop exporting deal, the worries, cares and pressures of the world are exasperated for many. In other parts of the world, climate change and excessive heat waves literally scorch the seed sown for food. All of this reduces supply, forces up prices, fuels inflation and cements the cost of living crisis, leaving 20% of people on the lowest incomes in the UK with not enough money to feed themselves after two weeks.

The situation is no doubt even more complicated than this, but it is why we need to celebrate harvest and be grateful for what we have, supporting those who through no fault of their own are less fortunate than ourselves. So as many of our churches begin to look forward towards the harvest season, may I encourage you to join us. This year our harvest charity will be Ripple Effect (formerly known as Send a Cow), helping poorer African nations learn how to farm and feed themselves sustainably, and we will be using our dry provisions and harvest gifts to support our local foodbank. Kindness and generosity are great spiritual values whether you consider yourself to be Christian or not, and just as the ‘Word of God’ teaches us, seed that is sown into good soil ‘can produce a crop a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown’ (Matthew 13.8). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our kind, generous and thankful hearts had a similar effect this harvest season?!