We are far removed from the earth and the crops, most of us. Sometimes I envy the farmer for his intimate contact with the earth and God’s blessings given through it. Today, the day before Thanksgiving in America, is a fitting time to remember again where our supply comes from, and to thank God for it. Here is a classic message and prayer of harvest Thanksgiving.

If there is any sign of God’s goodness which all persons can see, it is undoubtedly the annual harvest. God guards the seed throughout the winter in the earth, lets it bloom and grow and bear fruit in the summer, wards off hail and damage by storm, and fills barns and cellar swith His blessings.

But the world makes light of this harvest, and is unthankful to God. Ungrateful men imagine that it must be so; that it is just “according to nature” that things grow, and that God has nothing to do with it.…

A Christian views the matter differently. When he sees the full ears of grain, and the vines weighted down with grapes, he lifts his eyes to heaven and praises God, the almighty Creator who gives and preserves these blessings. From one grain He has produced so many grains; from an insignificant vine He has brought forth such precious fruit.

The Christian praises God’s providence, for God sends the early and the latter rains in their seasons, wards off hurtful thunderstorms, drought, hail and floods, and preserves the harvest. And when the Christian now sees the crop harvested, he receives all these gifts with grateful heart and hands. He uses them and enjoys them with thanksgiving. He recognizes that it is God who nourishes, sustains and preserves him. He lets the goodness of God turn his heart toward Him in repentance.

If we can be thankful to other people for gifts of clothing or food, and if we can avoid offending those who do us good, why should not we give thanks to the One who gives us all good things?

Prayer

O give thanks to the Lord; for He is good: and His mercy endures for ever.

Thus we say, O my God, how great is your mercy to us! … Again this year you have given us, your unthankful children, food and drink. You have preserved the harvest. Heaven has heard the cry of the earth, and the earth has brought forth abundantly. You have given us the early and the latter rains in their seasons. And now our fields have bloomed and offered us great goodness. Our trees have brought forth all manner of beautiful fruit.…

And now we thank You from our inmost soul. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Let us enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Let us say with grateful heart, the Lord has done great things for us; yes, the Lord has done great things for us; for which we are glad.

Through Jesus Christ, Amen.

Written by Johann Friedrich Starck, 1728. Translated into English by Joseph A. Stump, 1904. Re-translated into modern English for The Stream. Online source here.