Readings for Harvest Festival on 4th October 2026 (Trinity 18)

The Collect for Harvest Thanksgiving

Eternal God, you crown the year with your goodness and you give us the fruits of the earth in their season; grant that we may use them to your glory, for the relief of those in need and for our own wellbeing; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

A reading from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verses 7 to 18

The LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams,

with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of

wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees

and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack

nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.

You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has

given you.

Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God, by failing to keep his

commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you

today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in

them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is

multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting

the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of

slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid waste-land

with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint

rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know,

to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. Do not say to

yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.’

But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,

so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is

doing today.

A reading from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 9, verses 6 to 15

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, so that by

always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good

work. As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness

endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will

supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your

righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which

will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not

only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings

to God. Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to

the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with

them and with all others, while they long for you and pray for you because of the

surpassing grace of God that he has given you. Thanks be to God for his

indescribable gift!

A reading from the gospel according to Luke, chapter 12, verses 16 to 30

Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And

he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?”

Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and

there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you

have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God

said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And

the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store

up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’ He said to his

disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or

about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body

more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have

neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value

are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your

span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you

worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor

spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is

thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you - you of little faith! And do

not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not

keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things,

and your Father knows that you need them.

The Second Collect

Lord of the harvest, you have given to us everything that

we have. Our money, our possessions, our lives are yours. We can only give to

you what you have first given to us. Make us generous and willing in our offerings

and use them to bring those who receive them closer to your love, through Jesus

Christ our Lord.

Amen