In England, before the use of mechanical harvesters, when the corn was gathered with the sickle, scythe and other hand implements, there were many popular harvest customs.  The most important was the Harvest Home Supper which was held in the largest barn available, when the harvest was complete.  It was a pleasant, friendly event in which master and workers ate and drank together.  In some places, entertainment was provided by performers who dressed up so as to be disguised.  They were known as ‘guisers’.  They acted as if they had not been invited to the Harvest Supper and proceeded to force an entrance to the barn against the opposition of the people inside.  This resulted in much excitement and amusement! (1)

“…if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (NRSV, Galatians 6:8)

In ancient times when a conqueror took possession of a country he signified it, not in modern fashion by running his flag up on the chief government building, but by receiving the gift of earth and water at the hands of its now subject king.  The country itself might be vast in extent but it was all comprised in that token offering of earth and water contained in a golden dish and ewer.

So the harvest gifts which we bring to church are a token that all the produce from the farms and gardens and allotments of our parish, and indeed of the world, belong to God.  Indeed they are God’s in a far truer sense than any conqueror’s lands because it is God who has created them.  He has imparted life to the seed and furnished the sun and the rain for it to grow and mature.