A video reflection for Harvest Festival

The Revd Canon Andy Bryant, Norwich Cathedral's Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care, shares a reflection for Harvest Festival.

Watch the video message above and read the full text below.

"Do you take time to stop, stand and stare? Our lives can be so busy that we rarely stop to look at the world around us – to hear the birds singing, to feel the breeze on our skin, to notice the shape and colour of the leaves on the trees.

Despite all the troubles of our world, we live on a beautiful planet. To take time to stop in a park, allotment, our garden, along the river bank, and just look around us – even those plants pushing their way through the cracks in the pavement – is to be caught up in the wonders of creation.

Harvest Festival is one of those special moments in the year when we pause, remember and give thanks. It is a time to remember all those who are involved in growing, producing and transporting our food and to offer thanksgiving for them.

In a rural county such as Norfolk we are particularly aware of our farmers. Many of us may enjoy walking in the beautiful Norfolk countryside, but life on the farm can often be challenging, and at times even lonely. It is important that they know they are valued and appreciated.

Harvest Festival also reminds us that through the food we eat we are connected to growers and producers across the globe. It is all too easy for us to take them all for granted, and to not think about all those on whom we depend for the food that we just assume will be on the shelves of our shops. And in giving thanks for all we have, we also need to be mindful of those who go without, those for whom hunger is an all too present reality.

Our Harvest Festival invites us to go deeper, to remember not just those who harness creation to produce the food on which we depend but also to remember, and acknowledge, our Creator God, who gifted us this wonderful, beautiful planet and who is the source of all life.

When we pause and take stock of the wonders of the world about us, it is also the opportunity to offer praise and thanksgiving to the generosity of our loving, Creator God, and to renew our commitment to be better stewards of all that God has gifted us in creation.