Harvest

What does harvest mean to you? (Symon)

Ask people about what the harvest means to them?

In the Psalm we were given a picture of God as gardener

He fills the rivers with waters

Blesses the its valleys and trees

And blesses it with his love and mercy

But there is one fruit it does not mention and that id the fristfruit

When I think of harvest I think of this

Luke 13:34

34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

We our also a creation of God

We our his first fruit

It is hard to think of us as fruit I know

But it is for us all other creation was formed

It is to keep us that God blesses the harvest

And just as we gather the fruits we grow

So God will gather us in

So when I think of the harvest I think of the day when God shall call me home

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

How do we offer back to God? (Symon)

In accordance with are reading we have:

Come from the world God made for us

We have marked the wonders of God

We have given thanks that ours is a land of milk and honey

And we have rejoice in all the good things

but what our we to give him?

I am reminded of a Christmas song: In the bleak midwinter

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Fruit and vegetable our all well and good

Our time and money are better still

But what God really wants is You

You are his harvest

You his chosen person

Yes I know no of you think worth of it

Hardly the best of humanity

Hardly blessed in his sight

If I am fruit I am bruised and a bit mouldy

but so much dose he love you

That he causes the rivers to flow

He causes the sun to shine

And he even sent his first fruit

His own son

To call you home

So when you think God has forgotten all about you

Come be part of the harvest

And he shall rise you to be the first fruit

Why I support austerity

I recently attended my local preacher meeting, during which there is always an update on the church who is hosting it. This particular church had started providing emergency food aid (in partnership with others) to those in need in there local area. I was a little surprised, as the area in which this church stood, was not deprived or disadvantaged. It was a small town in south East England and food aid was required.

So why do I support the policy causing this food aid?

Firstly I must admit that this is the outcome I would expect. Food scarcity is always the outcome of increased global consumption and local recession. In a time of resource constraint I would expect those in the worse economic position too feel it more then those with greater accesses to resources.

This is not to blame those forced by forces far beyond them. To say that before the crash the country, the household and the individual overspent. If a person who is employed lives in debt they will be utterly destitute if they should loose there job. This is the situation many people have found themselves in.

One of the causes of this overspend is of course the fall in real terms wages but a vain attempt attempt to maintain current living standards. I often compare this to a impoverished Emperor , who is fooled into thinking thin air is the most fashionable robes and then buys them. He is foolish twice, once to buy thin air and the second time to use money better used else where (in paying of his debt perhaps).

We could argue who fault all of this is but we our faced with it none the less. Both the nation and the individual overspent and massively and for very little tangible outcomes. I concede there was useful spending as well for example new hospitals and school buildings. I however submit a new hospital operates just as well if not designed by an award winning architect. It was exactly this vane spending to which I refer. Infrastructure spending is one thing but no nation is enriched by modern, initiative buildings just functional ones.

So we our left with no money to spend. We have rather pleasant looking but empty visitor centres and people starving because they themselves lived of debt in the good times and I support the policy effectively pulling the plug on all the spending that partially supported this?

Yes and Yes again

One of the first effect of the global melt down was for good or ill the fortunes of Britain where held by the dreaded rating agencies. Effectively, Britain is owned not by its people but its debt holders and if the APR (Bond yields) where to raise too far BANG! At best ,massive devaluation of sterling (which would massively increase the cost of imports) and at worse Bankruptcy and who would be able to bail out the UK? Who?

So why not increase our tax take to pay off our debts and build some more pleasing ornate buildings? Why not? The required businesses people and investors we so desperately need would simply leave. We our beggars, not masters, we need them far more then they need us. Oh we could threaten to freeze them out of the UK but such an anti business anti free market move would end any chance of recovery and make Ukplc UK on the Volga.

No the bitter pill is this, without the ability to borrow more money for fear of the credit ratings and without the ability to tax people more without causing a flight of international capital we are ensnared. We must cut expenditure and do what ever private capital wishes in order to get there money voluntarily. I would say that there are far better target for cuts then the poor but they our either protected by government or by the electoral will of the people. No we must cut spending and pay off our debts, like those who our blessed to still have a job.

The UK must look beyond the EU for trading opportunities, shaking hands with anyone willing to spend a few pennies in the UK. Indeed placating Latin America with over various issues would be a good start. We our beggars remember and it is time we acted like them. Oh and by the way I know dealing with murders and corrupted people is not easy but neither is seeing people beg for emergency baskets.  

Prayers of confession and forgivness 2nd sep

Prayers of confession (based on Psalm 15)



Lord forgive us that are walk has not been blameless
Lord forgive us for when we have not done what is righteous,



When we have failed to speaks the truth from their heart;
When our tongues have utters slander,



Forgive us for when we have wronged our neighbours
Forgive us for when we have casts no slur on others;



Lord we admit we have not keeps an oath
Lord we admit we have been shaken.



We have not kept your lord
We have no kept you gospel in our hearts



For all of this we seek your mercy
For all of us we seek your grace in our hearts 

Prayers of forgiveness:

Lord we know you forgive us always

Lord we know you'll give us grace always

You made your word flesh when we would not hear it

You showed us your grace when we would not see it

You set up your camp in our hearts when we needed it

You forgive us though we did not deserve it.

Lord your will is we spread the gospel of forgiveness

Lord you will is we spread the law of love

In this we are joined in salvation with your son

In the great act of scarifies we are forgiven though your son

Prayer of adoration

Listen! Look! Here the Lord comes, leaping across the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the lord;

my tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.

You have exchanged the laws of man for your love

You have clean our souls from the stains of sin

You have anointed our lips with your grace

You have made us blessed you forever.

Lord you have erected your camp in my heart

Lord your is the cause of truth, humility and justice;

Lord your right hand achieve awesome deeds.

Lord your saving word has redeemed the world

Lord when I speak with you the words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart are pleasing in your sight,

Traditional conservative manifesto

Traditional conservative manifesto:

I won’t you to imagine a party which is committed to the maintenance and improvement of our society, our nation and the good of all who reside within.

This party would devolve power away from the bureaucratic, inhumane, calculating state and give it to communities and the free men who reside within. We would seek to make the UK a working nation once more and a nation. We would reinforce are working class communities by championing community groups and neighbourhood policing and ridding them of the drugs menace.

We would make schools disciplined and safe places, quickly removing those pupils disturbing the learning of others. We would take the same attitude with problem households and criminal families. Communities would be empowered to intervene and remove. We will no longer force communities to suffer the consequences of failed families.

We would free Britain from the European Union reaffirming Britain as the only parliament with the right to pass laws in Britain. We would aggressively pursue a pro export policy, no longer binding exporter hands with endless paperwork or moral foreign policies. We would have lower tax rates for exporting businesses and manufacturing businesses in order to get Britain back working.

We would set the tax rate in order to punish immoral behaviour both personal and in the city but to get Britain back to work We would crack down on and shame those who do not pay their share and kick out businesses that did not pay there’s. We would ensure care the neediest but also crack down on welfare manipulation by both the middle classes and the poor. We would reinforce the NHS and end all government re-organisations, whilst directing it recourses towards the youngest in our society.

We would also encourage an increase in the British birth rate by offering nationalised child care and child tax breaks. We would remember the importance of mothering and families within our society, promoting society to play its role and giving what help we can. We will focus are efforts of communities and families, offering a helping hand but never thinking we know best.

With these principles and many more we shall call this party the Conservative party 

Self-interest and the banks

So why did bankers rig an internal banking rate, well very simply it was in there interest to do so. Actually it will have been in there short term interest to do so.

Before I continue I must admit my starting premise and this is we all act as self-interested individual. We do not operate in either perfect knowledge or wholly freely therefor we act in a limited rational way in the furtherance of our own or perceived self-interest.

So let us look at the starting question again; why did investment bankers rig the interbank rate? Answer, it was in there self-interest at that time. What does that mean, well as they saw it they would get a reward that outweigh the risk of losing their licence to trade and cause a scandal that would harm there means of making a living.

Wow! That reward must have been high. Actually I doubt it; the banks did in the end manipulate this rate to ensure there continuation (thus the risk was much reduced) but before this stage the rigging had already become systematic and the reward at individual banker (the achievement of targets and the reward for doing so) could simply not out weight the risk.  

So what can we conclude from the fact they did. One that they value the risk of being caught, very low; two that the punishment for bad behaviour must have either been no existent or very lenient; I suspect it was a combination of poor monitoring both internal / external and a very lenient punishment for  unacceptable behaviour and hear we have the nub of the issue.

Clearly the banks rewarded risky behaviour (again acting in there limited self-interest) and sought out and promoted risk taking individuals – actually this is untrue. I expect they did seek out risk taking individuals and rewarded successes but more importantly they must have stopped asking questions and demoted people unwilling to take extreme risks in the sight of others. Therefore you have an environment in which risk is rewarded and ill behaviour not punished whilst those unwilling to act in such a manner (for whatever reason) were side lined.

As you can see no memo insisting on the rigging of libor was required, indeed no knowledge of it in the higher Escalon’s would ever be heard, as no one wanted to know or sought to know. Simply by rewarding risk and not punishing ill behaviour an organisation will guarantee some law is eventually broken, as more and more risk will have to be taken to achieve increasing targets. This is the problem with limited self-interested rationality, it is often short sighted and often lacking in prudence, epically when the organisations does not punish ill doing. 

Earthly powers

I believe we Christians have a problem

This problem is not unique to us as a people of faith and nor it is at its most extreme

The problem is this we live in a society which no longer shares our beliefs

We are still blessed that they are sympathetic to are core beliefs

But we are now a people of faith in a sea of at best indifference

So the problem is this how can we preserve our faith?

How can we maintain the covenant we have made in the blood of Christ?

Jesus in Mark 14:24 refers to his crucifixion as forming a covenant with believers

In the first reading God reminds us of the covenant and of the cost of breaking it

The main part of this covenant we still share – “have no other Gods”

The Jews had assimilated foreign Gods

They has submitted to alien influence and ease

But God had maintained his covenant with them and demands reciprocation

In are second readings of Luke we hear about the cost of following Jesus.

On the face of is this passage is about physically following Jesus

But it can also be read as the cost of accepting Jesus

“No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God”

When we accept Jesus we agree to the cost in other words;

In this passage people ask to follow Jesus

And Jesus warns the of the cost

He warns the first about personal privation (no home, no rest)

He warns the Second that if he chooses to follow him he must forsake any human concern

Even the burial of his farther

And to the last man he warns:  that once he embarks on this path there is no turning back

This is the cost of following Jesus

A cost anyone who choose to follow him must pay

I think this should be taken as a warning

Often people follow Christ and talk only of the rewards

Only of the joys

But I can testify to the cost

Of the sacrifices

All I accept as my part of the covenant formed on the cross

As in Luke though Jesus I was warned and accepted.

So far so good and then the third reading

Well – cripes

Where to start?

Well first the lectionary is supposed to be Romans 13:1-10

But to me Peter 1 make similar point and better.

Peter’s words have direct implications for us today.

As I said at the start like peter we live in a society which does not share our beliefs

And in which the government which allows actions which run contrary to are beliefs

So how can we react?

Shall we shut the doors of are temple?

Shall we kneel before the might of the state?

Shall we adopt the norms of our society like those in the first reading?

Or shall we react in violent revolution?

No we must stay the course.

We must preserve the conversant with God

And we must maintain the law of the land

We are not called to take power for ourselves or to revolt against the powers that be

Indeed both Peter and Paul tell us to submit to earthly power

Peter extols the virtues of suffering for doing good

He predicts the glory of the martyrs whose power came not at the sword but on the cross.

As odd as some of you may find these teachings they do give us a model of living in this world

It accept that powerful people may not always be good or believers

It accept man’s law shapes the world we live in and that we may not like it

But people will not hear good news from a violent man

A man with blood on his hands cannot proclaim love

No Peter and Paul call us to show the ways though our silent suffering

Buy living as Christ wants us we will show the follow of the foolish man

By living by Gods laws first and man’s second the follies of these as well

So whilst we must accept we live in a world of laws we do not like

The oath to altering this is not violence or revolution

But silent resolve, good deeds and following Gods laws above all

Whatever the cost may be