Celebrating The Feast of the Harvest, Memoirs from Lynn Radnedge
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves
We shall come rejoicing , bringing in the sheaves!
There will be much rejoicing in our beautiful church this Sunday as we celebrate our annual Harvest Festival.
Not sure which hymns we will be singing but I’m sure they will be joyful and uplifting.
Bringing in the sheaves was a popular choice at the little Methodist church in the Black Country where I worshipped as a child and teenager.
Harvest was always one of my favourite times. We were all invited to take gifts of fresh fruit and vegetables (not tins or packets in those days). My mum worked in a greengrocers and took pride in using one of the unwanted fruit boxes to create a magnificent Harvest offerings. They were so popular she was commissioned to do dozens to offer for sale in the shop window.
A local baker created great loaves of bread in the shape of corn which were fixed either side of the altar. I can’t imagine they tasted too wonderful since they had to stay in church for most of the day – for morning and evening services. But they looked amazing and I’m sure all the products were gratefully received by needy members of the community.
Bringing in the Sheaves was written by Knowles Shaw, born in 1834 in Ohio and whose parents were both Scottish. His early life was spent in Rush County, Indiana where he learned to play the violin for many a dance. While playing for one particular ball, he suddenly stopped having seemingly undergone “a conversion” and subsequently entered the Ministry. Shaw’s wonderful singing voice earned him the nickname: “The singing evangelist”.
Soon after starting his ministry, he began composing and writing music. His first hymn was entitled The Shining Ones. Finally, Bringing in the Sheaves was one of the last hymns he wrote:
Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;
By and by the harvest, and the labour ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves!
— Lynn Radnedge