“Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. The Valleys stand so thick with corn” was the prelude to the Harvest Home service Sept. 20 at Heidelberg Union Church.

“We celebrate Harvest Home here in this beautiful land,” UCC Pastor Karen Yonney said. “The food on display will go to the Lowhill and Northern Lehigh food banks and to local people who are in need.”

She also announced a covered dish luncheon would follow the church service and help would be needed to take the food out for delivery.

The hymn, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” (Raise the song of Harvest Home. All is safely gathered in Ere the winter storms begin,) was sung continuing the focus on the harvest.

For the children’s message the Rev. David Hess of the Lutheran congregation pointed to some of the fruit and vegetables on display and said there were decorations also.

“What is that with the big wheel?” Hess asked the youngsters.

The item was a hand cultivator, which some children recognized.

“How would you like to push the wagon around all day?” Hess then asked the group. “Harvest is a lot of work.”

Hess said he was amazed at how the Lord blessed everyone and enabled them to work and play.

He also “recalled picking cherries on the family farm.”

The Festival of Harvest is a reminder of the hard work the Lord empowers us to do,” Hess said.

Pastor Hess then gave the Prayer of the Day, which began “God of abundance, you have poured out a large measure of earthly blessings, our table is richly furnished, our cup overflows and we live in safety and security. Teach us to set our hearts on you and not on these material blessings.”

Hess introduced Donald Breininger, a member of Weisenberg Lutheran Church, though he had been baptized at Heidelberg and his mother sang with the choir.

“Greetings and congratulations on your 275th,” Breininger said. “This is my mother’s heritage back to my great-great-grandparents who are buried on the hill in the cemetery.

Breininger said the food displayed is what people expect to see at Harvest Home, but people in Biblical times celebrated the end of harvest with a get-together.

England organized the beginnings of today’s Harvest Home and it was brought to America, Breininger explained. It is truly a Harvest Home. It is the end of harvest. We sing hymns of praise. How appropriate the words of hymns.

“We Plough the Fields” has more depth of meaning, a way of giving praise. What we do is particular to the Pennsylvania German area.

The rest of the country has different services. It is wonderful to see the produce brought out.

For 50 years everything came from farms and gardens. There was no packaged food. It was a way of saying thanks.

“There would have been grapes, peaches, dressed chicken. I’ve seen them surrounded with ice,” Breininger said.

The churches would be decorated with ivy and flowers because they are part of God’s blessing. The images paint a picture in our mind of what God has given us. The produce, years ago, went to the pastors. It was a sense of pride to bring the best. There were no kitchens in the churches so the women gathered to help the pastor’s wife preserve the food.

The pastors’ salaries were not great and they shared the produce with other churches.

Harvest Home – each church had its own day of the month when a single pastor would travel to several churches.

It’s different today. We have the food banks. People are working outside their homes now. They buy something to bring but it is still a recognition of a gift of God. It is different today but we do still celebrate.

“We are Christians and know our God. We see the success of our labor. Times have changed,” Breininger said.

He recalled a story of Charlie Brown sitting on the church steps as the choir sang “Bringing in the Sheep.”

Charlie Brown was confused.

“I’d gladly bring the sheep to them if I knew what they were.”

“We come to worship, to give thanks, to return some of the blessings we have received,” Breininger said.