Funeral homily at harvest tide

Preached in St Alphege Church, 2.30pm, 18th October 2007.
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 35b-38,42-44,50-58
Hymn: Come ye thankful people come.


Our Christian Faith stands us in good stead at the time of our death. Through our baptism we are united to Christ in his death, and we shall also be united to him in his resurrection. (Romans 6:5). In our scripture reading today from 1 Corinthians 15 we heard St Paul talking about the resurrection of the dead. Although our natural bodies, perishable and weak come to die, from them we grow new bodies, spiritual, imperishable and powerful.
And much of this is reflected in the famous harvest hymn that we will sing after our prayers. The first verse of the hymn starts “Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home” and it is all about giving thanks to God for the harvest and for the food that we eat.
But then the rest of the hymn is about a different kind of harvest. The hymn talks about we ourselves as God’s own field and the harvest that God hopes to receive from us at the end of our days. In the hymn we pray that we might be good at wholesome grain and that at our death, God may gather us to himself to become citizens of heaven. Then in the final verse of the hymn we think of ourselves in heaven as part of the Church in heaven, triumphant, purified from all sin and sorrow and rejoicing with all the angles and saints.
Following ?????’s death on Tuesday last week, the family came to our regular 8 o’clock service here on the Sunday. By chance it was harvest festival and Fr Patrick preached on the words of this hymn. And for the family this hymn spoke about ????? and gave great reassurance. It helped the family to trust in the love of God, who has now called ????? to himself.
And I would like to invite all of us take reassurance from our Christian heritage. Let’s put our trust in a loving God, who has grown us on this earth, for a future in heaven. Let’s seek to be good grain, wholesome and true, full of love for God and for one another. And, in the fullness of time, let’s be ready to yield to God a rich harvest, as we leave our mortal bodies behind, and go to join the Church Triumphant in heaven.