I was recently asked, "Do we really have to have the Harvest Festival so late in the year?" The simple answer is 'no'. However, the end of October is best for Pledge Sunday (it's all to do with budgets, copy dates, Council meetings, and holidays) so, as long as we combine Harvest and Pledge Sunday, that is when it must be. But why combine the two? It was a tradition I inherited, but there are two reasons why it is a good tradition: because 'pledging' is the Biblical purpose of Harvest Festivals, and because 'harvest' thanksgiving should be the primary purpose of Pledge Sunday.
The Old Testament seems full of festivals. Deuteronomy 16 says three are particularly important ones: "all your males shall appear before the LORD your God" at the festivals of unleavened bread (or Passover), weeks (or Pentecost), and booths (or Tabernacles). "They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed; all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you." The Passover celebrated God's deliverance of his people from slavery in Egypt. Pentecost, "seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain", was the first of two harvest festivals. The second, the Festival of Booths, "when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press", lasted a whole week in September/October (so we are not too far out, although we only 'appear before the Lord' once a year with our offerings!).
Both harvest festivals were a time for feasting and rejoicing - so harvest suppers (or lunches) are entirely Biblical - and both were responses to the blessings they had received. There is a progression of thought through the three festivals: Passover looks back to what God has already done, and recalls his promises; Pentecost celebrates God's current blessings, and is a reminder that his law must be observed; and then at the Festival of Booths a whole week of rejoicing culminates in the further promise, that as a consequence of our acknowledgement of our dependence on him, expressed through our freewill offerings, "the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate."
Throughout the Scriptures there appears this 'progressive loop': God blesses us, so we give to him in proportion to his blessings, so God blesses us in proportion to our thankfulness. Malachi 3 says: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse ... and thus put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts; see if I will not ... pour down for you an overflowing blessing." The Philippian Christians are told that giving results in a "profit that accumulates to your account"; and that consequently "God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches." (Phil. 4) Again, we read in 2 Corinthians 9, "The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance."
Conversely, a truly biblical harvest festival is not just about giving thanks for God's bounty in nature and in the harvest, but should be a time when we take stock of how much God has blessed us in the last year and, consequently, make a proportionate offering to him. In Old Testament times nearly everyone was dependent on the final harvest to draw up that balance, but nevertheless they were expected to make an appropriate offering three times a year. Furthermore, these offerings were not only a response to God's past blessings but also a sort of advance thanksgiving for his promised blessings in the future. Should not our Harvest Thanksgivings express our gratitude to God in a manner as tangible as theirs?
Most of us are blessed in knowing more or less how much we will get at the end of each month, this year and next year. If, without any such security, the people of the Old Testament were expected to give twice in the year, based on God's blessings in the past, before giving a third time after that year's blessings were known, should not we, at our single annual "appearance before God", be prepared to pledge a proportionate part of our expected income to him? After all, we are simply pledging, with the understanding that we can modify our pledge if our circumstances change; they were expect to hand over their offering, there and then, without expectation of any refund, however hard things became.
Elsewhere we shall be talking about the current needs of our church and asking you to respond to those specific needs. That is, of course, the major purpose of Pledge Sunday. However, combining Harvest with Pledge Sunday reminds us that there is a greater reason for our giving than simply to meet the needs of our church. We should not come empty-handed before God, but give freely in proportion to the blessings that we have received.
Yours in Christ,
Richard Pamplin