Blessing Of The Combines

A friend from Missouri sent this piece about the blessing of the combines.  As it points out, it's not about blessing a combine but giving thanks for a good harvest and keeping all the people safe that operate the combine and take the commodity from the field to our plates.  There are a lot of people involved in this trail of food!

"Some combines are already rolling through Missouri corn fields signaling the beginning of the 2014 harvest season. However, this year farmers are riding in the field on blessed wheels.

Roughly 50 people gathered around two combines parked in the Central Missouri Events Center arena last month to take part in the inaugural Blessing of the Combines.

"The Blessing of the Combines service isn't really about blessing a combine, but it is about using them as symbols of the harvest," Fran Schnarre explains. "We were praying in thanksgiving to God for the harvest so far. We were praying for a safe harvest for farmers this fall and that our hearts be opened to people the world that don't have the abundance we have. That is how we say thanks to God by feeding our brothers and sisters."

I think this is a neat idea.  Many churches are praying for a safe harvest this fall.  One year a local priest blessed the soil the farmers brought in and they reported a successful year in response.  So for us believers, this makes perfect sense.

Are you a believer?

Ed Winkle