“I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.” The rich farmer, in a parable told by Jesus in Luke 12:13-21.
“Honour the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce.”Proverbs 3:9.
Lammas, or Loaf-mass, is traditionally held on August 1st, or thereabouts, and marks the gathering of the first fruits of the harvest with a wheat loaf made from the grain being offered at the altar. An ancient thanksgiving, from a time when people were much more in touch with the land and dependent on its yield than some may be today, it was the start of the garnering of the crops which would end with the celebration of Harvest Festival when, according to the hymn, “all is safely gathered in”.
Here in the valley, the hay bales in the adjoining field are already awaiting collection and it’s been a busy time with the cutting, turning and drying of the crop as tractors and balers cross-crossed the fields. Not least has been the activity from the red kites and other birds that have been clearing up the carrion left by the machinery – the low-flying kites are remarkable to watch, with their beautiful plumage and skilled aerial acrobatics a fascinating sight.
Lammas goes back to Old Testament times when the Hebrews celebrated the start of harvest by bringing the first fruits to be blessed. This happened during Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks – usually in late May or early June, which is when the wheat harvest in Israel occurs. Shavuot also marked the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai, when the Jews waited so long for Moses’ return that their milk turned to cheese and cheesecake and cheese-filled pancakes became traditional Shavuot foods. The first fruits come in many forms, with the Jews also seeing themselves and their lives as the first fruits of God’s harvest, echoed by St Paul when writing of the resurrection, ‘For now is Christ risen, the first fruits of those who have died.’ 1 Corinthians15:20. In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of a rich farmer who decides to pull down his barns and build bigger ones to store the abundant harvest his land had produced – yet he dies that night. He was fortunate in being wealthy and planning for the future is wise, but the farmer seemed only to be concerned with his own needs and not those of anyone else. Jesus uses the story to warn those who are not rich towards God or generous to others that our lives and possessions are not for ourselves alone but for those in need too. The offering of the first fruits to be blessed was a sign of the fruitfulness of fields and lives as well as a thanksgiving to be shared by the whole community which was not to be taken for granted – and it still is!
With my prayers; pob bendith,Christine, Priest Guardian.