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Over two hundred years ago, in the days long before there were large seed drills and combine harvesters, a song was written to celebrate the harvest. It is still well-known today; it starts with the words: 'We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land'.
Over two hundred years ago, in the days long before there were large seed drills and combine harvesters, a song was written to celebrate the harvest. It is still well-known today; it starts with the words: 'We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land'.
What can we tell from those words? How was the seed sown? The words suggest the seed – or at least some of it – was sown by throwing it by hand (you could demonstrate this action) after the field had been prepared with a horse-drawn plough. When it came to harvest time the same horses would pull the reaper or cutter ready for the crop to be gathered in.
But what happens in the next line of the song hasn't changed. Can anyone remember the next line? What happens next (it may be helpful to sing the first line as a prompt, stopping at the word ‘but’).
The answer, of course, is: 'But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand'. Once the seed is sown, we rely on the sun and the rain and the nutrients in the soil – everything that comes from creation. In fact, we rely on these things for all of our food – even that which comes in tins and bags and bottles.
