I remember singing the old hymn, “Bringing In The Sheaves,” in the Hamburg Methodist Youth Choir. My buddies and I could really belt out the chorus. Even though I grew up on the farm I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand the process…the hard work of harvest.

Picture 1: Harvest began with cutting the wheat, rice, or oats, by hand with a sharp sickle. Once cut it was gathered and stacked in sheaves or bundles to dry in the field.

Picture 2: Threshing was the process of separating the straw from the grains. Notice in the picture there is a wagon that contains sheaves from the field, a tractor that provides the power to run the threshing machine, the threshing machine that separates the straw and the wagon for the harvested wheat, rice, or oats.

Pictures 1 & 2 reveal the time, labor and discipline required to be a farmer. Everyone on the farm & their families had only one priority, get the crop in! It was hard work. It was dangerous work. Picture 2 reveals a long belt running from the tractor to the threshing machine. If someone were not paying attention and walked into the fast-moving belt, it would be a disaster. If someone slipped and fell into the threshing machine it too would be a disaster. There were no warning signs in the early days of mechanized farming. Not being intentional could cost you your life. I remember many of my dad’s farmer friends had missing fingers & scars from farm accidents.

Picture 3: Today, the combine cuts and threshes the straw and grain in a single step. All from an air-conditioned cab.

Today’s church is like today’s harvest; we sit in air-conditioned churches and hire a preacher to do the work.

But Jesus has another idea. He was the master communicator. Ponder this… Luke 10:2-4, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals…” In other words, it’s all hands (you & me) and nothing is more important. Nothing!

God has called “ALL” of His children to the field, as it was in the early days of farming. Listen to the personal relationship we are to have with the seed of our life. Isaiah 17:5 “It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain, gathering the grain in their arms…” Harvest is personal.

Now we come back to the powerful lyrics Knowles Shaw wrote in 1874. “Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,” Focus on these 4 words, “We Shall Come Rejoicing”. What’s in your arms? Is it straw or grain? Do you come rejoicing?

Know the harvest is certain. We do not know the date & time. But we do know Jesus said, “I Am coming soon.” Revelation 22:20