September: Turning Toward the Harvest
September stands at the meeting place of seasons: summer still lingering in warmth and light, while autumn whispers in the cool mornings and darkening evenings. In the Church, this is often called Creationtide or Harvest Season, a time to give thanks for the fruits of the earth and remember our place as caretakers, not owners.
Harvest is not about abundance alone, it is about gratitude and responsibility. It reminds us that nothing we receive is truly ours: grain grows because rain falls, apples ripen because branches held them, and our daily bread is always a gift. At the same time, fields are being emptied, trees slowly let go, and the world leans toward rest.
September invites us to live in this tension: to gather and give thanks while also preparing to release, to share, to trust the earth’s rhythm of fruitfulness and surrender.
From the Earth
The land shifts softly. Apples swell in orchards, sometimes falling with a soft thud into long grass. Hedgerows glow with blackberries, rosehips, hawthorn berries, and elder. Swallows gather on telephone wires, restless for their long journey south.
Morning mist lies low in fields. Cobwebs glisten with dew, and acorns and beech nuts scatter woodland paths. The light in late afternoon turns golden, thick, slanting over quiet hills and harvested fields. The earth is beautiful in a quieter way now: tired, generous, letting go.
Those Who Went Before
St Ninian of Galloway (Feast Day: 16th September)
St Ninian was a 5th-century Celtic bishop and missionary, traditionally believed to be the first to bring Christianity to what is now Scotland. He founded a small stone church at Whithorn, near the sea, the first of its kind in the region. It was called Candida Casa, the White House, because its walls were whitewashed and shone in the coastal light.
Ninian was not a loud saint of miracles, but a quiet one of presence. He travelled on foot along the coast and farmland of southern Scotland, speaking with shepherds, fishermen, farmers, chieftains: whoever he met along the way. He built simple communities of prayer, hospitality, and work close to the land.
Pilgrims still walk to Whithorn today, past cliffs and quiet fields, following the path he walked. Ninian is a saint for September: steady, attentive, someone who sowed quietly, trusted the land, and believed God could be found in small places at the edges of the world.
A Prayer in Action
This month, choose a food grown from your local land: apples, bread from local grain, honey from nearby hives, seasonal vegetables, and incorporate it into a meal. Before eating, pause and pray:
“For the earth that held it,
for the hands that grew it,
for the God who gives it —
thank You.”
If possible, share part of that meal with someone else, a neighbour, friend, or food bank. Harvest is never meant to be kept.
“The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.”
