Praise God for the harvest and for people who fix things
A Thanksgiving hymn.
Last April, I spent about an hour trying to get a piece of machinery disconnected from my tractor. When I finally figured things out, I realized that – while I have words as my “trade” in a certain way – visual learning and mechanics are not my trade. I’m sure that my friends Bill, John, Geoff, Steffen, Justin, Mark and many others could have solved the problem in about five minutes.
So today I pay tribute to mechanics, repairers-of-broken-devices and all other people who learn best by sound, feel and sight. Perhaps Brian Wren’s wonderful hymn, “Praise God for the Harvest of Orchard and Field,” could use another verse.
“Praise God for people who learn just by sight,
or sound, taste and feel, make the broken things right.
When words will not fix it, they don’t use a book;
they keep the world running – they “just take a look.”
(by Curt Gesch, 2024)
As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, let us praise God for our neighbours with different learning styles, different ways of seeing, thinking, solving problems, and for their unique hunches and inclinations.
“Praise God for the Harvest of Orchard and Field”
Original lyrics by Brian Wren
Praise God for the harvest of orchard and field,
praise God for the people who gather their yield,
the long hours of labor, the skills of a team,
the patience of science, the power of machine.
Praise God for the harvest that comes from afar,
from market and harbor, the sea and the shore:
foods packed and transported, and gathered and grown
by God-given neighbors, unseen and unknown.
Praise God for the harvest that’s quarried and mined,
selected and smelted, or shaped and refined:
for oil and iron, for copper and coal,
praise God, who in love has provided them all.
Praise God for the harvest of science and skill,
the urge to discover, create, and fulfill:
for plans and inventions that promise to gain
a future more hopeful, a world more humane.
Praise God for the harvest of mercy and love
from leaders and peoples who struggle and serve
with patience and kindness, that all may be led
to freedom and justice, and all may be fed.
Lift Up Your Hearts, #397
