newliturgies

Growing up in Eastern Pennsylvania and surrounded by a lot of my family’s Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, I nonetheless was only vaguely aware of the Luterhan, Mennonite, and German Reformed tradition of Harvest Home until I joined the United Church of Christ as an adult.

Cultures have celebrated harvest liturgically for thousands of years. Pentecost itself was a harvest festival. Harvest Home, still celebrated today in historically German-settled regions of the United States, grew out of traditions from the German-speaking churches of medieval Europe and took new shape in the Americas among German-speaking settlers and immigrants.

Below are some elements you should feel free to adapt for your own seasonal liturgies.

First, a responsive Harvest Litany used to open a service in place of a Call to Worship, or wherever else feels appropriate:

Harvest Litany

Creator God, for daily bread and all who work to bring your harvest home, we bring our thanks today. Forgive our moments of ingratitude, for taking your creation for granted, for taking without giving, reaping without sowing. Open our eyes to see, our lips to praise, our hands to share.

For those whose harvest is poor, whose crops have withered, whose water is tainted, whose children are hungry, and for those who share, from little or from much, that all might know your provision, and all might sing your praise, we offer this harvest prayer.

Creator God, provider of all, may this eternal truth be always on our hearts: That You who breathed creation into being are the same God who, in Jesus, entrusted His life to the care of ordinary people, becoming vulnerable so that we might know the strength of your love.

In your time, God of sowing, Lord of the harvest, this world was put in place, and in your time, became beautiful through the craftsmanship of your love. Remind us always that at the center of all things is your creative love. Bless the yield of this year’s harvest for the sustenance and strength of all people. Amen!

This is harvest-themed adaptation of The Apostles’ Creed:

A Creed for Harvest

We believe in God, who Jesus taught us to know as a loving father; we believe in the goodness of God’s creation in heaven and on earth.

We believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, God with us, miraculously given by the Holy Spirit, and His virgin birth through Mary; in the vulnerability of the womb, God’s promise comes to us in fullness.

Jesus, God from God, suffered under unjust powers; yet his life was made a harvest.  He was crucified, died, was buried, and descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. We believe in the Holy Spirit, who he sent to lead and guide us. He will come again; he calls us to be ready, to live justly, to love our God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. 

We believe in the holy universal church, called to greater faithfulness, and in the communion of saints, the fellowship of God’s children across all times of harvest. 

We believe in the forgiveness of sins. We believe in the resurrection not only of the spirit but also of the body, of Christ’s and ours, and we believe that Christ, the Risen Lord, has the power to bring the dead to life in this world and the next. Amen.

The following is adapted from a “Spiritus Sanctus,” a Puritan prayer included by Arthur Bennett in his 1975 work “The Valley of Vision.” The version below is fruther adapted for modern (2026) responsive use. One of the things I ilke about it is that we don’t often find directy prayers to the God the Spirit in most of our modern or traditional liturgies. The prayer is imagined here as useful for the Prayers of the People, but is lovely and fitting in a variety of settings.

Prayers of the People (Spiritus Sanctus)

O Holy Spirit,

as the sun is full of light, the ocean full of water, 

Heaven is full of glory, so may our hearts be full of you.

Remind us that our toils and work, unless they be done in love,

are fleeting. Work in our hearts and lives,

regenerating us by your power, 

giving us eyes to see Jesus, hands to serve in him others,

feet to go where you call. 

Give us your spirit without measure.

We lament every instance of selfishness,

we give thanks for your ways of provision.

Come as power,

to refine us;

Come as teacher,

leading us with love, filling us with understanding;

Come as love,

that we may love you and one another,

Come as joy,

to dwell in us, move in us, free us;

Come as light,

illuminating the stories of faith ancient and new,

Come as helper,

with strength to bless and keep, directing our every step;

Come as beautifier,

bringing order out of confusion, beauty out of chaos,

moving us from darkness into light. 

Magnify your presence in and through us, and make us faithful stewards of your gifts and instruments of your peace.  Amen.

The following litany is meant as a prayer of dedication and thanksgiving after the offering. In Harvest Home services, the altar is typically made beautiful with image of harvest, and worshippers have been encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to then be given to a local food mission (or a church’s own in-house pantry for those in need).

Litany of Dedication and Thanksgiving

The heavens declare the glory of God! The skies display the work of God’s hands!

Do we not know? Have we not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

Sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done wonderful things!

In summer and winter, springtime and harvest:

God’s steadfast love abides. God blesses us with His presence, God plants seeds of faith and God calls us to growth. As we thank God for the bounty of the harvest season, we remember and pray for those who are suffering, those who feel lost, those who are hungry, downtrodden, abused.

God, light a flame within the hearts of your people, a burden for all who don’t know the goodness of your love and care. Inspire and strengthen us to work in the ripened fields of this world well past this marking of blessing and harvest. Bless this bounty to the nourishment of everyone it feeds in Jesus’ name…

[here, you could also move directly into The Lord’s prayer, which is what I tend to do.]

You might consider ending your service with a simple unison prayer, balancing the good deal of spoken liturgy and litany above:

Unison Prayer of Benediction

Bountiful God, we give you thanks. Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another, and send us forth into the world in courage and peace, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!