God Holds the High Bar: Harvest Time

It’s harvest time in Kansas again. Even with all the technological advances, harvest time is still hard work for farmers. They pour their sweat, their backs into 14+ hour long days in the warm summer weather to gather the harvest. Have you ever seen a harvest? Have you ever had to work really hard to get everything just right?

Read Galatians 6:1-6 & Luke 10:1-11,16-20.

 In addition to sending out the Twelve, Jesus is now sending out seventy more disciples, to gather in the harvest. The way of life that he describes for them is not an easy road; the harvest they need to bring in requires hard work. It requires shaking off the dust, being peaceable in the face of struggles and hardship. It requires teamwork to prepare people for their encounter with Jesus, to reach the high bar of relationship that God holds.

It is important to note that those sent out are not the creators of the harvest – that’s God’s job. It is important to see that those sent out aren’t bringing Jesus to the people – that’s God’s time. Instead, they are called and equipped to prepare the way – to spread the Good News, to speak peace in the face of trouble, to be vulnerable, to trust that their eternal relationship with God will sustain them. Jesus calls the seventy and calls us to the high bar of relationship – to resting in our relationship with God and working on relationship with those in our community.

We are called to trust in God’s promise that the harvest is abundant – that people still care about God, even as churches close and the surveys say that people don’t care. We are called to trust that there is still work for us to do, to build relationships with people at school and at work and at workout classes and even in our families. We are called to rely on our relationship with God – that our faith and our peace will prepare the way for the encounter with Jesus. We don’t have to be great speakers or deep thinkers or seminary-educated in order to tell our story, in order to tell about our lives.

So reach for the high bar of relationship that God holds – the relationship with God and with people that requires not incredible strength, but incredible vulnerability. And thanks be to God for allowing us to be partners in the abundant harvest

Grace and peace,
Pastor Kate