Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; (Phil 4:5-9; John 6:25-35; Psalm 100)

One of the real joys of living in Brandon is the fact that you don’t have to drive very far to get out of it. No, I’m not saying that Brandon should be avoided—far from it! What I mean is that our city’s size helps to keep us more conscious of the land than often happens for citizens of larger centres.

We are closely connected to the land here, and this year, I have been especially conscious of the land and the harvest, through the “Harvest with Heart” initiative of Samaritan House. Along with several staffers from Sam House, Chris Macdonald and I spent a hot couple of hours watching five combines bring in 60 acres of canola. The proceeds from this crop will assist Samaritan House Ministries in its work over the coming year. I have posted information about the program on the board at the back. Please take a look…

The people of ancient Israel lived even closer to the land than we do, in a society that where most people lived in small villages, working the surrounding land. The cycle of life revolved around the harvest—or harvests, because crops are taken off twice in a year. I have a picture taken near Beersheba on April 27, 2004, showing wheat standing ready for harvest. It could almost have been taken somewhere on the Canadian prairies. Wheat is wheat, after all, whether it’s grown in Canada or in Israel.

Living so close to the land made planting and harvest festivals central events in the nation’s life. Today’s reading from Deuteronomy was probably connected with the spring harvest festival, the Feast of Weeks, which we now know as the Day of Pentecost. The passage gives simple directions for the celebration of the feast—rather like a page out of the BCP or the BAS.

There is a Latin maxim of liturgical studies which says “lex orendi lex credendi”—literally, “the law of prayer is the law of belief.” In other words, how a community of faith prays reveals its beliefs.

Let us then take a closer look at this ancient ritual. First, it is located at a specific time, when “you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you…” We might read that as unrepeatable, like baptism, but like baptismal vows, thanksgiving for the land and its bounty can and should be renewed. The land is a gift, held in trust from God. It yields its bounty every year as God wills it, and as the people continue to care for it. The land is not ours, but God’s. The harvest is given for our continuing well-being, but it is still a gift. To keep us reminded of the source of our livelihood, we are directed to return some of the first-fruits of the harvest.

The offering is to be placed in a basket and brought to the priest at the appointed place. The giver makes a declaration to the priest, a reaffirmation that the giver is the heir of God’s promise to the ancestors. It is a ritual reminder that all of this comes from God.

The words that follow are an affirmation of faith, a re-telling of Israel’s story, from the sojourn in Egypt to the harvest in the Promised Land. The ritual ends with a celebratory feast, not just for the giver and his household, but including “the Levites and the aliens”—those who do not share by right in the land’s goodness.

Thus, the ritual declares three things:

1.         This is God’s land.

2.         We live in the land by God’s grace.

3.         We are called to share the bounty with those in need.

As it was in ancient Israel, so it is with us today. We do not live by our own being, as the psalmist affirmed:

…he himself has made us, and we are his…

We live in God’s earth, by God’s grace, and we are called to respond—to come together as God’s people to proclaim God’s goodness, to give thanks for his blessings, and to live out that thanks by reflecting God’s generosity.

We give thanks today for the life which God has bestowed on us, for the harvest of the land which sustains that life, and for the harvest of the spirit which feeds us into eternal life. We give thanks not as separate individuals but as a community of the faithful, for the good life—the life in Christ—is a shared life, a journey together with all of God’s people.

Who are the Levites and the aliens among us today? Who are those whose rights are discounted? Who is pushed to the margins of society? These are the ones with whom we are still called to share, with the generous hearts that flow from our gratitude to the giver of all.

Our anniversary celebrations last week showed to the community that this parish is richly blessed with many gifts and talents, and a wonderful heritage of faithful service and witness. Today we are reminded that God is the source of all our blessings, and that God continues to call us to give thanks by giving in thanks.

May we always live in the knowledge of God’s grace, with hearts overflowing with gratitude—close to the land, and the maker of the land, who has led us here, and who has blessed us that we might be a blessing.

Thanks be to God!