PRAISE GOD FOR THE HARVEST

Heather Allington

Heather writes for Sunday Song Book on behalf of the The Salvation Army Oshawa. As a lifelong member of the Army, she has loved these familiar - and some less familiar - songs for many years, and enjoys researching and writing about their origins. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and retired elementary school teacher who likes trying her hand at watercolour painting and poetry writing.

Praise God for the harvest of orchard and field;
Praise God for the people who gather their yield –
The long hours of labour, the skills of a team,
The patience of science, the power of machine.

Praise God for the harvest that comes from afar,
From market and harbour, the sea and the shore:
Foods packed and transported and gathered and grown
By God-given neighbours, unseen and unknown.

Praise God for the harvest of science and skill:
The urge to discover, create and fulfill;
For plans and inventions that promise to gain
A future more hopeful, a world more humane.

Praise God for the harvest of conflict and love,
For leaders and peoples who struggle and serve
To banish oppression, earth’s plenty increase,
And gather God’s harvest of justice and peace.

Some modern, thought-provoking lyrics have been given to us here by author Brian Wren, a talented man born in England in 1936. Following his education at New College and Mansfield College, Oxford, he became minister of a Congregational Church in Essex from 1965 -70. Next, Wren was the consultant for adult education in the Churches’ Committee on World Development, and then a staff member of Third World First, from 1976-83. After 1983, Brian Wren’s high interest in influencing world affairs was shown as he worked as a freelance writer, speaker and educator on world development, worship and peace, as well as in his authorship of study materials, prayers and hymns. As we gather at Thanksgiving and praise the Lord for His many blessings, may we also each commit to doing our part to “gather God’s harvest of justice and peace” in our world today.