Even More Apples

You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. – Psalm 65:11 (NRSVue) 

My family participates in a CSA (community-supported agriculture), and one of the abiding pleasures is reading the Monday email announcing what we can pick up at the farm/orchard on Wednesday. In our case, the year is crowned with apples, more apples, broccoli, winter squash, and even more apples. We miss it when the season is over. From time to time through the winter, my wife and I drive out there to buy their salsa, pickles, and apple cider doughnuts (the only apple our teenager will eat). 

The route takes us just enough out of our usual routine to feel like a field trip, even though the road is familiar. We’ve listened to Brood X Cicadas, and noted (and squashed) Spotted Lanternflys, admittedly not the richness we wish to have overflowing God’s wagon tracks. I’m thankful we live in an area where so much grows, thankful we are able to support a local farm and enjoy its produce. But I’m also mindful that we are in a position of multiple privileges: to afford the farm share, to put gas in the car, even to take time to make the trip.  

God gives us enough for everyone. Yet human systems turn abundance into scarcity for so many people. They live where crops have been flooded or burned, or in urban food deserts, or in such poverty or distress they wonder where to find their next meal.  

What can we do today to work for a changed world where God’s bounty reaches all? 

Prayer
Holy One, you created this abundant earth. Help us to see that there is enough for everyone and to care for those who have not received their share of your bounty. Amen.

About the Author
Martha Spong is a UCC pastor, a clergy coach, and editor of The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle, from The Pilgrim Press.