Harvest in the City

Thanksgiving weekend seemed the perfect time to share this harvest story. Back in April, as part of a Good Friday service we walked together around the local streets, stopping at various places to think and reflect on Jesus's journey to the cross and connections to suffering and hardship in our own neighbourhood. A part of this journey landed us in the community garden on the corner of a big intersection just across from our church (our new neighbourhood!). We were invited to throw wheat seeds into freshly ploughed soil. There is a lot of symbolism connected with seeds and the potential they hold, and faith. Seeds must be buried and lay still before they can bring new life... What a joy it was to walk past the garden recently (months later) and see the tall stalks of golden wheat. So when an invitation was put out to be a part of the harvest I was very keen to come along. Two of the photos show Ryan separating the wheat from the chaff as the grain heads are rubbed vigorously between palms and the chaff is blown away. The left behind grain makes a nice chewy gum - or can be ground into flour. Harvesting the wheat it was also necessary to try and separate weeds which had grown in among the wheat - including wild oats. So many lessons are best learnt through hands-on experience. This wheat is yet to be prepared into flour for use in communion bread throughout the year (what a beautiful concept!), but in the meantime the drying stalks hang in the windows of the church - a visible sign of resurrection.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds…” John 12: 23