I Never Turn Down Turnip

The kids groan every time I use the terrible pun, “I never turn down turnip.” And I use it often, as often as turnip comes up in polite conversation.


Somewhere in the church today I am sure there is a turnip. I actually do like turnips very much; boiled, baked, sautéed, mashed and yes, even raw. In fact, I am sure my mother peeled more turnip than she needed because she knew that I (and my dad) would pull the chunks right out of the water.

I hope that you can look around the church today and see a vegetable or fruit that you love, one that you wouldn’t turn down. To see the church decorated with the fruits (and vegetables) of the earth is a pleasant sight. Come to think of it, it is as pleasant to the nose as it is to the eyes.

The crowning glory of the growing season, and all of the hard labour that goes into achieving bountiful crops is the orange, red, green and yellow of the harvest. We decorate the church because we are thankful for the blessings bestowed on us. We are thankful to God for the harvest of land and sea.

Oh, and I can almost hear you say that not everyone enjoys the harvest. Many people around the world and in our own province go without enough food to sustain life. Did you know that the earth is capable of producing enough food every year for every living creature? That’s the way God made it. The fact that people are starving is our fault, our sin.

The crowning glory of the harvest is not seen in the beautifully decorated churches of PEI, but in our willingness to end the injustice of the greed and exploitation that result in people not even having a chance to turn down a turnip. The crowning glory of the harvest is shown by the sharing.