Harvest

HARVEST

A farmer went into his field, his fieldy wieldy, fieldy wieldy field.
The farmer planted some seeds, some seedy weedy, seedy weedy seeds.
Some seeds fell upon hard soil, hardy wardy, hardy wardy, hard soil.
Some seeds fell upon hard soil, hardy wardy, hardy wardy, hard soil.
They got trampled, trampled, they got trampled, trampled,
They got trampled, trampled, and eaten by the birds of the air.

Some seeds fell upon thorny soil, thorny worny, thorny worny, thorny soil.
Some seeds fell upon thorny soil, thorny worny, thorny worny, thorny soil.
They got suffocated, they got suffocated,
They got suffocated, there ain't no air anywhere.

Some seeds fell upon rocky soil, rocky wocky, rocky wocky, rocky soil.
Some seeds fell upon rocky soil, rocky wocky, rocky wocky, rocky soil.
They got dehydrated, they got dehydrated,
They got dehydrated, there ain't no water anywhere.

Some seeds fell upon good soil, goody woody, goody woody, good soil.
Some seeds fell upon good soil, goody woody, goody woody, good soil.
They just keep on growing, they just keep on growing,
They just keep on growing, the fruit keeps growing everyday.

Stephen Fischbacher (born 1960)
© 1999 Stainer & Bell Ltd

Full Music - PDF

Come, sing a song of harvest,
Of thanks for daily food!
To offer God the first-fruits
Is old as gratitude.

Long, long ago, the reapers,
Before they kept the feast,
Put first-fruits in a basket,
And took it to the priest.

Shall we, sometimes forgetful
Of where creation starts,
With science in our pockets
Lose wonder from our hearts?

3A
Shall we, sometimes forgetful
Of where creation starts,
View science as our saviour,
Lose wonder from our hearts?

May God, the great Creator,
To whom all life belongs,
Accept these gifts we offer,
Our service and our songs.

And lest the world go hungry
While we ourselves are fed,
Make each of us more ready
To share our daily bread.


Fred Pratt Green 1903–2000
© 1976 Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.6.7.6. Iambic

Permitted variant
Verse 2 may be omitted

Earth takes the seed,
Makes food for you and me,
We take the food
To feed a family.

Earth and the seed
Need sun and rain and care,
So we give thanks
In learning how to share.


Anthony Geering (born 1943)
© 1979 Stainer & Bell Ltd & The Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes
4.6.4.6.

First the seed and then the rain
Alleluia
Then the sun to swell the grain
Alleluia.

Soon the green shoots spring to birth
Alleluia
Breaking through the sleeping earth
Alleluia.

Look the warm sun fills the ear
Alleluia
As the harvest time draws near
Alleluia.

All the richness of the field
Alleluia
Now its fruitful corn to yield
Alleluia.

Praise to God who gives us bread
Alleluia
That his world may all be fed
Alleluia.


Ivy Calvert (born 1922) and Janet Cumming (born 1938)
© 1995 Stainer & Bell Ltd & The Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes
7.4.7.4.

For the fruits of all creation,
Thanks be to God;
For these gifts to every nation,
Thanks be to God;
For the ploughing, sowing, reaping,
Silent growth while we are sleeping,
Future needs in earth's safe-keeping,
Thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labour,
God's will is done;
In the help we give our neighbour,
God's will is done;
In our world-wide task of caring
For the hungry and despairing,
In the harvests we are sharing,
God's will is done.

For the harvests of the Spirit,
Thanks be to God;
For the good we all inherit,
Thanks be to God;
For the wonders that astound us,
For the truths that still confound us,
Most of all that love has found us,
Thanks be to God.

Fred Pratt Green 1903–2000
© 1970 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
8 4 8 4 8 8 8 4

God calls us to the fellowship of living!
Heaven exceeds the things we understand,
and here below our feet are firmly planted
on the good earth, our greening motherland.

God is our future, God is Lord and Father,
who causes on our days his light to shine,
whose grace has kept our earthy world together;
he gave us space, he gives the span of time.

The Word he gave to Abraham, our father,
came as a seed to blossom in his seed,
ready to face the times that are approaching,
when the great harvest ripens on the field.

Yes, we are sons and daughters of the promise,
the children of the day that is to come,
when he, the Son, the Sun, descends proclaiming
his peace and justice to each human home.


Fred Kaan (born 1929)
© 1985 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11.10.11.10.

God in such love for us lent us this planet,
Gave it a purpose in time and in space:
Small as a spark from the fire of creation,
Cradle of life and the home of our race.

Thanks be to God for its bounty and beauty,
Life that sustains us in body and mind:
Plenty for all, if we learn how to share it,
Riches undreamed of to fathom and find.

Long have our human wars ruined its harvest;
Long has earth bowed to the terror of force;
Long have we wasted what others have need of,
Poisoned the fountain of life at its source.

3ALong have our human wars ruined its harvest;
Long has earth bowed to the terror of force;
Long have we wasted what others have needed,
Poisoned the fountain of life at its source.

Earth is the Lord's: it is ours to enjoy it,
Ours, as God's stewards, to farm and defend.
From its pollution, misuse, and destruction,
Good Lord deliver us, world without end!

4AGod owns the earth: it is ours to enjoy it,
Ours, as God's stewards, to farm and defend.
From its pollution, misuse, and destruction,
Our God deliver us, world without end.

Fred Pratt Green 1903-2000
© 1973 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
11 10 11 10 Dactylic

How rich is God's creation,
How varied all he made!
How wide a range of colour
Is everywhere displayed!

No two of us his children
Are truly born as twins;
The most alike will differ
In virtues and in sins.

Let none in scorn or envy
Another's right refuse;
But all delight to welcome
Each gift that God can use.

Before we hurt each other
In gaining our own ends,
God grant we may discover
The joy of being friends.


Fred Pratt Green 1903–2000
© 1982 Stainer & Bell Ltd
7.6.7.6.

I'm a cog in a great big tractor
Sowing seed and cutting hay,
But the work that I do at Harvest
Helps to get our food each day,
Each day,
Each day,
Helps to get our food each day.

I'm a seedling struggling for sunlight
No good just on my own
But a million of us make the harvest -
See how tall and strong we've grown,
We've grown,
We've grown,
See how tall and strong we've grown.

I'm the driver of the tractor
Making seed drills in the ground.
Sometimes my job is boring
But my furrow's straight and sound,
And sound,
And sound,
Yes my furrow's straight and sound.

I'm the manager in my office
Making plans and checking yields.
These days we must be efficient
When we're working in the fields,
The fields,
The fields,
When we're working in the fields.

I'm a boy who lives in the suburbs;
I'm a girl from the countryside;
We're part of God's rich harvest
Everywhere both far and wide,
And wide,
And wide,
Everywhere both far and wide.

John Bailey (fl. 1970) and Susanne Bailey (fl.1970)
© 1977 Stainer & Bell Ltd
Irregular

Join the harvest celebrations,
Let us all give thanks today;
Let us shout and tell the nations,
There's enough for everyone!

See them laughing, when the crops are harvested,
Join them, singing, knowing now that no one need be hungry.
Join the harvest celebrations,
Let us all give thanks today;
Let us shout and tell the nations,
Justice is for everyone!

Harvest gladness fills us all with hope and joy,
Food in plenty makes us glad to share the earth's resources.
Join the harvest celebrations,
Let us all give thanks today;
Let us shout and tell the nations,
Peace must be for everyone!

Greed and envy, prejudice and selfishness,
Have no place where bread and wine proclaim the love of Jesus;
Join the harvest celebrations,
Let us all give thanks today;
Let us shout and tell the nations,
Love lives on for everyone!

Children waiting, let them all be satisfied;
Feed them, tell them they are born to be God's sons and daughters.
Join the harvest celebrations,
Pray God's holy time will come,
With the children of the nations,
Celebrating! - every day!


Alan Gaunt (born 1935)
© 1997 Stainer & Bell Ltd
Refrain & 11.14.

Just a tiny seed,
In the earth it goes,
Just a little rain.
It begins to grow.

From that tiny seed
Grows a mighty tree,
Branches spread out wide
Shelter you and me.

In that mighty tree
Birds will perch and sing.
Like the tree, God's love
From small seeds can spring.


Richard Atkins (born 1953) and Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
© 1995 Stainer & Bell Ltd & The Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes
5.5.5.5. Trochaic

Like fields awaiting the sowing of the seed,
people are longing for God in all their need.
All the world cries for justice and peace that must be,
for life with new meaning, for truth to set them free.

Prophets proclaiming the word in Israel
tell of a baby, the world's Immanuel,
in the now of whose being, alongside as friend,
new hope will be kindled among all humankind.

Comfort, my people, exclaims a voice that cries,
hills must be levelled and valleys made to rise;
for our God's human coming we need to prepare
a highway for heaven to where the people are.

Born in a stable, into the here and now,
Jesus is present and — living! — shows us how
in our sisters and brothers God meets us today;
new freedom unites us, for love has come to stay!


Fred Kaan (born 1929) based on the Catalan by Alberto Taulé
© 1993 Stainer & Bell Ltd
11 11.12 12.

Lord God, we seek your face,
on you we must rely;
your never-measured grace
is ever standing by.

Give us your bread to eat,
sustain and make us whole
and with your wine complete
our joy of mind and soul.

To deep compassion move
the hearts of young and old;
grant on the seed of love
a harvest hundredfold.*

New visions bring to birth,
compel us to be one;
stir up your Church on earth
for people to be won.

According to your will,
in Jesus' name we pray:
our deepest need fulfil,
our need of you today.

* cf Luke 8: 8

Fred Kaan (born 1929)
© 1968 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
6 6 6 6

Lord Jesus plants his garden,
Rich with fertile seed
For perfumed rainbow harvest,
Flower for every need.
On hallowed ground let's merrily sound with resonant flute,
With joy, pipe on a ring-dance song with cymbal, lyre and lute,
With joy, pipe on a ring-dance song with cymbal, lyre and lute.

Lord Jesus plants a Lily,
Pure as morning dew,
And sweetly scented Violet,
Humbly hid from view.
Chorus

Lord Jesus prunes his Roses,
Signs of self control
While ordered rows of Marigold
Highlight reason's role.
Chorus

Lord Jesus tends three bushes,
Prized above the rest,
He names them Faith and Hopeful;
Love he names the best.
Chorus

The Lord plants in his garden
Lives of human kind,
He plants his seed within us,
Claims each heart and mind.
Chorus


Bernard Braley (1924-2003) after the Dutch carol Jesus' Bloemhof
© 1980 Stainer & Bell Ltd.
7.5.7.5. (or 12 12.) & Refrain

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