Persistent Prayer

 The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

On Thanksgiving Sunday, our sanctuary is adorned with the fruits of the harvest. Thanks to all who contributed goods and service. Your generosity makes for a joyful time of worship.

Thanks also to Rev. Grant Wilson for filling in at the pulpit while Rev. Irwin is away.

The Bible contains many examples of persistent prayer; the widow in Luke 18: 1-7 (the persistent widow), David in Psalm 17:1- 2 (prayer for deliverance from his enemies,) Paul to the Philippians 4:6.  In every case the petitioner is commended for persistence. The judge eventually gives the widow what she wants, David is kept from the wrath of his enemies, and the Philippians present their prayers and petitions to God.

I don't know if incessant whining falls into the same category but I'm very good at it. Last summer/fall I complained without ceasing about the poor harvest. The fruit trees produced only a few apples each, the carrots were stunted. I even had to beg friends and neighbours for zucchini.😲

  

But this year--what a difference. The fruit trees produced so abundantly the branches bent to the ground. The shelves of preserves are full and the freezer will barely close, it is so stuffed with the goodness of the garden and the orchard. Having spent a year complaining, I now take heed of Philippians again and present my prayers with thanksgiving. 

In this Thanksgiving season we are reminded of God's abundant providence. Again, there are many examples, but Psalm 65: 9-13 (that we read on Sunday) echoes with praise for the Lord of abundant harvest. We gardeners like to take credit when the crops are good, and blame God (the weather) when they fail. But the psalmist knows better. It is God who waters the land and fills the streams, who crowns the year with abundance, and for whom the meadows shout and sing with joy.

We sing "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come." Our table is laden with the goodness of God's creation. Our hearts sing in thanksgiving to His grace and mercy. 

Another reason for Thanksgiving this week is the 65th wedding anniversary of Ann and Alan. I heard early in the week that there would be no cake. I couldn't believe SPPC would let an occasion pass without cake. Fortunately, the rumour proved false and we delighted to celebrate the long marriage of Ann and Alan with cake! 

Congratulations, Alan and Ann. And thank you for gracing SPPC with your presence. 

The Earth is the Lord's

Warnings about climate change and the fate of the planet have been around for many years, but in the past few weeks the debate has reached a new height. 

In the face of so much fear, I looked around and saw a magnificent display of God's grace -- in the beauty and abundance of nature.
At church, the hydrangea have turned a deep red. So lovely, I cut some to use as a bouquet during worship.

At home my apple trees are laden with fruit. These are dwarf trees yet they could feed ten families. (I'll  take a box to the foodbank.)

The fall flowers of dahlia and zinnia blaze brightly in the autumn sun

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The maple tree makes my heart lift each time I look out the window.

Even the last roses of summer flaunt their beauty in the dying season.

My soul sings in response to God's creation. 

Yet the streets are full of fear.

Humanity has polluted  God's garden. 

We needn't look to the scientists and the activists for direction. We need only look to God's Word. Genesis 2:15 says that we are to care for creation. Lv. 25: 23-24 reminds us that the earth is the Lord's and we are but aliens and tenants.  Jer. 2:7 "I brought you into a fertile land  . . . you defiled my land." Prov. 12:10 The righteous care for the needs of their animals. 1 Cor. 4: 1-2  This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 

And in the beginning --
Genesis 1:21 "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

Thanks to Aarol for her heron photo.

MY CUP RUNNETH OVER

 

 What do you do with pounds and pounds of zucchini?  I've made zucchini soup -- two types, zucchini loaves -- two types, zucchini quiche, zucchini marmalade and zucchini chocolate cake.  There are still sixteen cups of grated zucchini in the fridge and I'm afraid to look under the leaves in the garden.  
    I've fried zucchini, baked zucchini, roasted zucchini and grilled zucchini.  I've put it in pancakes and casseroles and salads, and I've given it away.  There is still zucchini lurking in the garden.  Such abundance!

    A few weeks ago, Rev. Irwin preached on the parable of the sower, or as he liked to call it the parable of the soil.  He made the point that a return on a seed of thirty, sixty or one hundredfold was a truly remarkable harvest.  Well, all the abundance I have described above is from two seeds.  Two!  
     And even though I'm the one who planted them, it is God who supplies the sun and the rain and the miracle of growth.  Yet I get to reap the harvest.  The shelves in my larder groan under the weight.  My freezer is full.  I have preserved food for the winter and still the plants keep giving.  I have surely reaped a hundredfold.

    Of course, the story of the sower is a parable.  Jesus wasn't speaking literally of sowing grain -- or zucchini -- but of sowing the Word of God.  I pray that I can plant seeds of faith that will grow like my zucchinis.  I pray that God will water them, provide them with light and food and that they will produce an abundant harvest.

P.S.  Anyone want a zucchini?

In all things...

by Alice Valdal

This year, wherever two or three gardeners are gathered together the talk inevitable turns to the disappointing yields this year.  The litany of complaint is loud and long.  Miserable spring, cold July, no bees, marauding deer, slugs, no sun.  I complain with the best of them, often leading the chorus.  Here it is, the end of summer and my tomatoes are still green.

In previous years, my plum tree has yielded bushels of fruit.  This year, I've got a niggardly offering that won't full one ice cream bucket.  I was ready to write off the garden as a complete failure, and then I found the blackberries. 

The bushes are laden, the berries sweet and juicy and huge!  Best of all they require little effort to grow and maintain.  I can't help considering the blackberry bushes along the roadsides as an example of God's grace.  We label them "noxious weed."  We cut them down, plough them under, trample them over.  We strip them of fruit and hack at the vines, then turn our backs and ignore them.  Yet, year after year, the blackberries shower the ungrateful with abundance, fruit fit for kings, there for the taking, no questions asked, no one excluded.


When I look at the failures and successes in my garden, I am reminded of Paul's message to the Thessalonians, In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.