Do you know who made your shoes?

So, it’s the harvest season, and in the month of November, ICC is going to see a unique harvest as we celebrate our annual Harvest Festival, and also as we consider our time and talent, share our gifts in music and worship, gather gifts for our refugee brothers and sisters at Sandholm, and help our children prepare their gifts to share during the holiday season. Yes, there will be much harvesting of gifts, time, talent, and resources in the next few weeks.

And I have no doubt that just about every newsletter from just about every parish in the world is going to have a pastoral epistle about the Harvest during this month...and this one won’t be any different.

But, I want to share my thoughts on the harvest in a little different way...

Our congregation has many mission partners, who serve the Gospel around the world, and right here in Copenhagen. One of those partners, is Rygaard’s Skole, here in Hellerup. As a part of our relationship to Rygaard’s, I go multiple times during the year to lead the opening assemblies for the International Department. And a few weeks ago, I went to lead the primary department in an assembly on the Harvest. We sang the song, “Oats and Beans and Barley Grow”, which (much to the angst of the teachers who were trying to keep their kids calm!) describes in great kinetic flair the work that the farmer puts into growing and harvesting our food. I was asking the children to not only give thanks for the food that is on our table, but to give thanks for the farmers that put so much of their life into making sure we had food to eat.

Well, it wasn’t a few weeks later that ICC hosted the Trade Week of Action. (If you missed it, feel free to listen to the service on my website:
http://www.therimmers.org/pastors-blog/2007/10/15/trade-justice-lord-bless-the-bread-you-have-given.html )

In worship on that day, and in the Trade Justice forum that followed, we considered the real cost of our consumption to local farmers and producers around the world, the relationship between economics, public policy and justice, and especially, the link between our faith, our lifestyle, and justice in God’s vision for this world. It was truly a day to give thanks not only for the harvest of goods and food, not only for the farmers and workers that make our lifestyle possible, but to give thanks for a God who frees us to think imaginatively about ways that we can live and share the harvest in order to bring justice to all of God’s children who toil in creation just to survive.

Well, only a week later, I caught up with an old friend for a little acoustic jam, and he played a song called, “I Know Who Made My Shoes”. After weeks of thinking about the harvest, justice, solidarity, shalom and my calling to live in a just, sustainable and faithful way, I was blessed to hear him sing, “I know who grew my food and yes, I know who made my shoes.”

Sometimes I wonder, whether we are in the top or bottom of the social stratus here in Copenhagen, while we harvest such an abundance of food, life, security...do we know who made our shoes? Do we know who grew our food? Do we always or ever really know how much life and energy were drained into the abundance that we feast on? Do we know what cost our security exacts on our neighbors?

Of course, there is a spiritual pulse to all of this. Whether we are talking about caring for creation, economics, agricultural practices, fair trade, or caring for our neighbor, we give dignity and honor to our neighbors when we consider how our lives impact all of creation. We give honor to the God who leads us to see our neighbor, and the God who gives voice to our calling to care, to share, and to work to use our harvest in fair and just ways.

Even in matters of faith, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3, that he is the one who planted the seeds, a man by the name of Apollos watered the seeds of faith, but God gave the growth.

None of us can ever claim to reap a harvest on our own. Shalom is dependent upon our ability to recognize, give thanks for, and then bear the fruits of the work of God’s people and God’s Spirit that surrounds each of us every day, nourishing us to grow, and in return, to care for this little corner of the vineyard that has been entrusted to us.

So, this harvest season, let’s keep these three things in mind as we reap the harvest and share our gifts faithfully…
1) Feel thanks for the one who nourishes us with abundance to grow towards the ultimate vision of peace, justice and wholeness.
2) Live thanks for the fruits of your harvest by striving to live more simply, equitably, sustainably.
3) Find out who made your shoes.
For the fruit of all Creation, thanks be to God!