In the last week or so we’ve begun to harvest the first-fruit from our garden and allotment. A heap of garlic, some sorry onions (that didn’t get enough water around Easter), 1 tiny courgette, some chillies, and some ripening tomatoes. The world is again – fecund.
A few years ago I read a lot about the concept of slow church. Many churches have adopted a consumeristic economic model looking for more worshippers, bigger budgets, shinier services to entice in the shoppers worshippers. And the theory goes that consumerism at it’s heart sells scarcity. In simple terms the more scarce something is; the more expensive it is. You want to make people want, and scarcity ups the dial on want.
In opposition is abundance. When things are abundant, there is no want, we can relax…enjoy…eat the strawberries.
Lammastide is the old English festival of first fruits. It occurs on August 1st as everything is ripening, bearing fruit, and abundance is at its max. And it links to the Jewish festival of first fruits. Traditionally, a loaf made with the first grain harvested would be taken to church for communion – the name comes from Loaf-mass. It’s the alternative harvest (at least now it’s fallen out of favour) where we don’t worry about storing things up for winter; we just rejoice in the good things we have.
I don’t think it’s too surprising that in protestant Britain we let Lammas slide. Not storing things up for heaven, but living for the sheer delight of abundance of life doesn’t quite fit the message. But, doing so is counter-cultural. At Lammas we celebrate the good things in life, count our blessings, sit and relax and let the good times roll. And that does not not encourage us to think about all the things we don’t have and may need to buy.
I was thinking of the song “Lazing on a sunny afternoon” by the Kinks. The singer recounts all his woes; but he’s content just sitting in the sun “sipping on [his] ice cold beer”. That’s Lammas. The stuff we’re dealing with hasn’t gone away; but a warm summer day and the fruitfulness of nature just make things seem a little less hard.
I wonder how you feel about all this. I’m afraid my protestant work ethic and guilt start to protest. But maybe I just need to slow down, consider what’s good in my life for a short time, and smell the roses. There will be time enough to worry about Winter when the second harvest arrives.
Questions:
Have you ever eaten fruit straight from the tree or bush? Was it exotic or mundane? What was it like?
What’s the best summer’s afternoon you’ve ever had (mine is portrayed in the pic above)?
Are you a “live in the abundance” or a “store things up for winter” type? What are those types even like?
Do you need any balance from the other type? If so, why?
Think about Jesus’s stories. When does he promote living out of God’s abundance, and when doe he not?
Peace, John
Photo John Cooper
I’ve been a member of BCFX for about 2 years. I love it. It’s home and hearth, welcome and challenge, ebb and flow.