No, I have not totally lost the plot and arrived at harvest ridiculously early, we are marking Rogation Sunday today at the Gathering Place.  Traditionalists will know, of course, that Monday to Wednesday of this week are the Rogation Days, when in days of yore whole communities would go out in the fields not to plough or sow - that had already been done - but to pray for God's blessing on the harvest.  They had done what they could, now they had to trust God.  Think of the teeny parable in Mark4: 26 - 29, it relates.

As well as asking (rogare) God to bless the harvest, traditions emerged of Beating the Bounds - walking the perimeter of the parish, stopping at landmarks and reminding themselves of their limits.  Essentially, if you stayed in the parish you were safe, this was home, these were your people who would look out for, and look after, you in time of need.  Boundaries are good, but they can become barriers, so we will also be using John 4, Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, to ponder that too.

Yes, we will sing of ploughing fields and scattering good seed just for the sheer mischief of it, but also because it isn't really a harvest hymn: snow in winter, warmth, breezes, sunshine... It is, for sure, a rural hymn (there is a contemproary Brian Wren version which I've elected not to use) but people seem to love it and if we sing it now I can pick something else come autumn...!

Plus of course we are only a fortnight from Pentecost which was the 'first fruits' or 'spring harvest' of the ancient Israelites, so not so far askew really...