Robert Hawker, born in Plymouth in 1803, was an eccentric who moved in 1834 to Morwenstow, the most northerly parish in Cornwall, which hadn’t had a vicar for over a century. Among his many bright ideas was the holding of a Harvest Festival, which he initiated in 1843. The following year Henry Alford wrote ‘Come, ye thankful people, come’; and a wonderfully Anglican tradition began.
Theologically Harvest is the moment where creation and eschatology meet – where the joy that things began blends with the sober realisation that things will end. Forty years ago, with growing awareness of global inequality, Harvest morphed from gratefully sharing the fruit of the soil to reflecting on the world’s haves and have-nots. By the 1990s Harvest had shifted again, this time to focus on the climate crisis and the depredation of species. Today Harvest offers a chance to reflect on what it means to live in a world whose future is fragile.
This year Harvest at St Martin’s marks the climax of our month of reflection on giving, noting the many things for which we are thankful, as well as the prospect of another large deficit on the prospective PCC budget for 2026. It has been inspiring to hear the testimony of members of the congregation describing why they give.
At the 10am Parish Eucharist today, everyone present will be given a card, a pen and an envelope, and invited to make a pledge, and then invited after the sermon to drop that pledge in a basket at the altar. (There will be a link for those online.) The suggested pledges on the card have been written in a way that everyone present should be able to tick at least one of the boxes. For some, simply dropping the card in the basket is a way of saying, ‘I’m grateful for this community’; for others, it might mark an opportunity to make a statement, if only to themselves, to say, ‘I’m investing in this community because of what it represents and because of what it means to me.’ All is gift, and all gratitude is inadequate. But we can still make giving thanks a joyful thing.
Revd Dr Sam Wells
