Ordinary Time

Harvest

All Years

Many in our communities  this season are delighting in the produce from gardens large and small,  while others are preoccupied with getting the barley cut, the beets out  and the hay baled. Liturgy honoring harvest is a celebration of the food  that is grown on the land. Such celebration is related to ancient  practices of acknowledging the first fruits of the season, as well as  supporting the most labor-intensive season for farming communities  before mechanization.

And, of course, the US  national holiday of Thanksgiving also occurs as harvests are coming to  completion, and the season of autumn is in full swing.

It can be a time churches  show solidarity to those who produce food, especially those in our U.S.  food systems that work in unhealthy conditions or in exploitative work  cultures. We can also stand with those who are hungry, and distribute  the harvest donations we have collected among charitable organizations.

These liturgies (Holy Communion and Word & Prayer)  provided by the Wyoming Worship Committee are meant to undergird both  the cause for celebration in our abundance, as well as call us to  minister to those in scarcity.