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The Harvest, We Reap What We Sow

The Harvest, We Reap What We Sow

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Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all the decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?  Deuteronomy 4:6-8

 

The laws, the rules we live by.

The speaker introducing the message at church this Sunday used the analogy of playing with fire.  Our innate insistence on sometimes challenging wisdom, rules, and laws out of a curious need to know more,  or the feeling that we know better maybe. Our inability to trust what we are being told, our need to learn it ourselves… like playing with fire, until we get burned.

 

I am in western Pennsylvania again and this time of year it’s the harvest, the time when you reap what you sow.

It was a good week, the predicted rain held off and “the boys” (Kim’s brothers Kerry and Keith,  and nephew Josh) were able to finish harvesting the soybeans in the fields down by Scullton and return the two large combines back to the farm to be moved to another field when work started again on Monday.

Unlike the last time I shared my harvest experience, a time when there was uncertainty in my life and uncertainty in our country with the upcoming election, I didn’t get to ride in the combine.   But by the end of the weekend I would feel that it was me who was benefiting from the reaping.

Having moved from the intro message delivered in the sanctuary to the basement classroom for Sunday school, we discussed Deuteronomy some more and the laws being passed on to the new nation of Israel.

Later those same rules to live by would be shared to other nations through the life of Jesus and his disciples.

On this Sunday, as we always do when we are at Kim’s home in Somerset, we attended services at the Geiger Church of the Brethren.  I have been to church here many times over the last twenty years, but not until this visit was I ever at the Geiger Church of the Brethren for their communion.

The Brethren have communion only twice per year. That may be because it is different.  Communion for The Church of the Brethren is not just the bread and cup.  It is referred to as the Love Feast.

And the Love Feast does include a meal as you might guess, but more importantly it includes, just as Jesus did for the disciples at the Last Supper, the washing of feet.

Only after they wash each other’s feet, a simple meal is served.  And finally after the meal the bread and the cup, the body and blood of Christ is served.

So just like Jesus did at the last supper, I sat in a chair while another brother washed my feet, then dried my feet with the long apron tied around his waist, then he kissed me on the cheek and blessed me.  When it was my turn, and I received the apron, I washed the feet of the next brother behind me.  I dried his feet with the apron around my waist, kissed him on the cheek and blessed him. Then I untied the apron… and so on and so on.

It’s hard not to be reminded in that moment of what Jesus was reminding the disciples;  take his message, and live by God’s rules as he had lived out for them to see, in the time leading up this last meal of fellowship.  By washing their feet he was demonstrating the ultimate act of love for your brother, in humbleness and service.

 

Now, we have another great nation that seems to be in constant turmoil.  As a nation we may not have our God as close to us as He used to be.

I can’t help imagining our leaders, our members of Congress, experiencing this act of love and service to one another; each taking their turn to have their feet washed, dried by the apron, and finished with a kiss on the cheek and receiving a blessing.   Then turning to the member in the next seat, kneeling with the basin, washing and drying their feet, a kiss on the cheek and a blessing.

And so on and so on.

 

Might be different vibe in the room after that.

You reap what you sow.

 

So he got up from the meal. Took off his outer clothing. And wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped around him.

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 13: 4-5, – 15-17

Hope

Hope

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My brother-in-law Kerry driving the combine with me riding shotgun
My brother-in-law Kerry driving the combine with me riding shotgun

The heavy iron ladder is swung out and locked into place allowing me to climb up to the cab of this odd shaped monster of a vehicle.  Like something out of a Mad Max movie, the behemoth is now in motion and the pointed jaws lowered into position lining up with the rows of corn in the field.

It’s the harvest.

The race to bring in the crops has begun.  That race to beat the winter weather that can, at the very least complicate and delay the process or in the worst case, damage the crops that have been worked so hard since the spring.

On this day only 91 acres of corn and 65 acres of beans (soybeans) remain.  The soybeans are more fragile and are the more urgent concern.  If the snow comes early (and in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania early could be any day now since in my experience, it has been very common to have snow on the ground by Thanksgiving) it could pose a problem.

View of the front of the combine as we approach the end of the row.
View of the front of the combine as we approach the end of the row.

But this morning, though the weather is beautiful, the soybean storage bin is full.  The truck that will pick up a load of beans and create more space in the storage bin, has just exited the Pennsylvania Turnpike and is on its way now from Somerset.

So in the meantime, the focus is on the corn.

The “behemoth” is the combine.  This morning I am riding shotgun with my brother-in-law Kerry and getting an education.  I never experienced anything like this growing up on the Jersey shore.

The combine will take the ear of corn off the stalk, remove and save the corn kernels,  then spit out the now naked cob and husk. The corn kernels are then transferred to a large “dump truck” like vehicle and moved to the grain dryer where the remaining moisture is removed; then stored until sold, transferred, and transported to the buyer’s facility for use as feed.

It’s hard work, requiring long days, but in the words of my brother-in-law Kerry, he’s “loving every minute of it.”

My other brother-in-law Keith has been manning the grain dryer since 6 AM this morning.

They are working the same land their father worked and his father before him.

 

Unloading the corn into the truck to take to the dryer
Unloading the corn into the truck to take to the dryer

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am in western Pennsylvania again.  At the Geiger Church of the Brethren on Sunday, the message was about hope and service was opened with us singing America the Beautiful.

O Beautiful for Patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam,

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America! God shed its grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

 

Hope.

People without hope are people without a future, the message said.

I thought about that and the song we had just sung.

Hope…in dreams that see beyond the years.

Hope…undimmed by human tears.

 

I haven’t worked since the middle of August, other than writing and occasionally substitute teaching.

I am learning what it is to be sixty years old searching for a new career.  I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  I can’t commit to that vacation or plan for that retirement date.  I am experiencing change once again in my life.

So does that mean I am a person without hope?  And therefore, a person without a future?

Absolutely not!

It is true there is some uncertainty in my future for sure.  But that does not mean I am without hope.

God has not revealed what is in store for me.  But I expect when He does, it will be bigger than I can imagine.  I expect my future will be my reward for everything I worked hard for in my life to get to this point.

And what if I am living my reward already?

What if being able to work with elementary and high school students, the future leaders of this country; is part of my reward.

What if having the opportunity to climb into the cab of a combine and harvest corn that will help feed this great country of ours is part of the plan for me also.

And surely being able to express myself when I want, any way I want, through words and these musings is a reward I also cherish.

And regardless of what happens today and what changes we will wake up to tomorrow in our country, my brother-in-law Keith will still be at the grain dryer at 6 am; Kerry will be in the cab of that combine, and along with millions of others,  whatever it takes to  keep this country moving will continue.  And at least I can say,  my brothers-in law will still be enjoying every minute of it.

America will still be Beautiful.

Our dreams will continue undimmed by change, tragedy, conflict, and those tears that may be shed as a result.

Brotherhood must and will continue from sea to sea.

And we will still have hope in a future that like my own, may seem a little uncertain today.

Because, like the song says, God shed its grace on thee.

And I too will enjoy every minute of it.

 

I voted!
I voted!