The harvest is plentiful

These words come from St. Matthew’s Gospel and are part of our Gospel reading this coming Sunday:

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

We don’t normally think about harvesting this time of year. We enjoy relaxing, taking time off, spending time with people we care about, and not worrying about the harvest. Summer will be over soon enough and then we can get back to things like school, work, and harvesting then. It is wonderful that summer provides us with such a great opportunity to relax and share time with people we love. That is truly a gift of God.

Jesus’ words have immanence to them, however. To Jesus, wherever he went, he saw the harvest. There were always people who needed hope, people who needed love, people who needed to be cared for, and people who needed to know that God loves them.

I wish that suffering could take a summer vacation. I wish that hopelessness could go out of town for a while, but our phone at King of Peace continues to ring with phone calls of people who are losing their hope. There are so many people around us who need so much. We cannot solve the problems of the world, but we can take seriously Jesus’ call to always be on the look out—to bring hope and care and love—to be ready for the harvest.

I hope you are enjoying your summer, and I hope it brings you a sense of rest, but I also hope you never close your eyes to the good that God is calling you to do.

The harvest is plentiful.

I also hope you don’t forget about King of Peace this summer. Many people have other things to do, but I hope you will still make King Of Peace part of your summer. We have two wonderful worship services each Sunday—8:30 am is a quiet, peaceful, and reflective service, somewhat more traditional in the Episcopal legacy. 10:00 am is more upbeat, more diverse in its music, and wonderful for families with children.

Whenever you can come, I hope you will. You are also a part of our harvest, the gift of our selves we give back to God. And our harvest isn’t the same without you!

See you Sunday!

Jay Weldon, Pastoral Resident