Our Greater Communal Harvest
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Consider how we are called to sow seeds of hope, peace, and love in our communities, trusting that even unseen, God is at work bringing forth growth and renewal.
A single seed can start a garden, and a single act of kindness can change the world.
– Unknown
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.
— Audrey Hepburn
Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Food for Thought
Growing up, my grandparents always had a large garden behind their house. They had both grown up on farms and, before becoming a pastor, my granddad ran his own produce company supplying much of the southeast with cucumbers and strawberries.
The acre of yard they devoted to their garden was a way for them to stay connected to the land — and they encouraged their grandchildren to join them in the joys and efforts of the gardening process. They planted, tended, weeded, supervised the growing… and then, when the harvest was ready, they called us in to pick the fruits and vegetables of their labors. We dug up potatoes from beneath their red clay soil, learned to pick carefully among the sticky branches of raspberry bushes, picked and shelled garden peas (and sometimes ate them — only to remember how terribly bitter that green can taste).
Gardening, planting, tending, harvesting — these are also images Jesus used to help us understand how the kingdom of God is moving and working and growing and shaping all around us. This is how my grandad, too, talked to us about the mysteries and the promise and the possibilities of God’s kingdom. “You see that cob of corn?," he’d say. "From one seed comes 100 more seeds. You do the math. If God can do that with such small seeds, how much more can God multiply the seeds of our work?” Or, when harvesting potatoes, “You see that sprout over there? It doesn’t look like much, does it? Doesn’t seem to have any fruit, but pull it up. Now dig your hands down where that sprout was and tell me what you find (sometimes 4, 5, 6 potatoes). We cannot always see the work God is doing in the world through us or around us, but it’s there.”
What Jesus was trying to teach us, and what my granddaddy hoped we might come to see, is that the goodness of God’s creation has a way of pointing us to the divine. Gardening, planting, tending, harvesting … the goodness of God is sprouting up, is putting forth fruit, and is being harvested all around us. Sometimes this happens through, and because of, our faithful participation and our willingness to put our hands in the dirt. Sometimes God does the work of bringing forth fruit despite us. But in all of this, we are part of something much larger than ourselves — a divine cycle of growth and renewal.
We have come through an intense election process, and in many ways are still in the midst of communal tension and anxiety. In this season of Thanksgiving and gratitude, of growth and harvest, of welcoming and gathering with one another, may we find small moments of peace, of hope, imbued with God’s faithful presence as we encounter the fruits of God’s goodness both within us and surrounding us. This season calls us to pause, to take a breath, and to be thankful for the goodness and for the moments of grace that sustain us, even amid the challenges.
May we give thanks for those whose love and whose labor has tilled the soil bringing forth life and healing — those whose hands are tending to and nurturing the growing fruits of community — and those who sow seeds of kindness, understanding, and service — those whose work and sacrifices often go unnoticed but are a vital part of our greater communal harvest.
May we, too, be always considering how these images of gardening, planting, tending, harvesting are calling us to be in the world. How are we planting seeds of hope, of reconciliation, of promise? How are we tending to and pulling up the weeds of those communal practices that hinder our growth and wholeness? How are we nurturing practices that cultivate vulnerable and authentic community. How do we nourish our relationships with honesty, repentance and forgiveness? How are we tilling the soil and planting the seeds for the fruit that we might never see — but whose fruit will nourish our children and our children’s children?
Consider planting a small garden of winter vegetables with your family or community. Have each person choose a plant that symbolizes hope, peace, or reconciliation to them. As you tend to it together, share stories of how small acts of kindness and understanding can grow into something beautiful, and take time to reflect on how your efforts can nurture the community around you.
The holidays are upon us and maybe you are finding yourself slightly nervous. It can be hard to know how to navigate or approach all that might divide us if brought up in conversation. To help our readers navigate this season, our team created a short resource to provide you with Five Things to Remember When Setting a Welcome Table for the Holidays! We hope it will help you set a welcoming space before your guests even arrive!
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
Gracious God,
As we pause in this season of thanksgiving, we give you thanks for the goodness of creation, for the soil that nourishes, for the seeds that grow, and for the hands that tend to the work of planting, harvesting, and nurturing life. Help us to trust that even when we cannot see the fruit, you are at work beneath the surface, bringing forth life from the smallest of seeds.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
How have you seen the work of planting, tending, and harvesting in your own life or community, and what lessons can we learn from these natural processes about God's kingdom?
In what ways can we actively "sow seeds of hope, reconciliation, and love" in our everyday interactions, and how might these small acts contribute to a greater communal harvest?
What are some "weeds" (such as fear, division, or apathy) that hinder growth in our communities, and what practices or actions can we take to remove or tend to them in order to foster healthier relationships and greater unity?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Ask your kiddos to imagine if they could plant a seed for something good in the world (like kindness, friendship, or peace), what kind of seed would it be? What do you think it might grow into, and how can you take care of it?
Have them draw a picture of a time when they helped someone or did something kind, even if no one saw it. Ask them how it made them feel to "sow a seed" of kindness.
Go outside and look for plants, flowers, or trees. Talk about what they need to grow — like water, sunlight, and care — and how this reminds us of how we need things too, like love, kindness, and forgiveness, to help us grow into who God has called us to be.
Meet This week’s writer!
The Welcome Table Team - We are “The Bunce Girls!” Originally from Lexington, North Carolina, we were raised surrounded by music, justice, and faith. We spent most of our Sunday afternoons gathered around an open table with family and friends where the food was plentiful, stories and laughter connected our hearts, and where the presence of each individual was held sacred. It’s those moments that have inspired The Welcome Table.
To hear more from TWT throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!