In the Garden

I've been meaning to write a post about Anathoth Community Garden for some time. I found out about this garden during my last year of seminary, and while I have never been there, I know many people who have and have been changed by it. I wanted to tell the story well, but such a marvelous story deserves great attention. Then, the other night in preparing to write about it, I stumbled onto this online article which wonderfully tells the full story of Anathoth.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/312

The story about Anathoth displays so much I believe to be necessary for churches and individuals to practice habits of good environmental stewardship. Perhaps foremost is having the imagination of God and attempting to see things the way God does. The name Anathoth refers to a field Jeremiah was told to buy. This act no doubt represented lunacy to everyone around as Israel was being conquered by the Babylonians at the time, and exile was imminent. Sam Wells, dean of Duke Chapel, compared the senselessness of this act (to most at least) to buying property in New Orleans the day before Katrina was to hit. And yet this act was one of prophecy - to bear witness to God's faithfulness to Israel. The exile would not last forever and "houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land" (Jeremiah 32:15).

So I love the God-given imagination displayed by Scenobia Taylor and Rev. Grace Hackney to turn a fallow plot of land into a garden that shows the reconciling grace of God. Certainly this is a protest against "the way things are" and will be misunderstood by many. But I believe God smiles at the simple holiness of this community garden.

I've thought recently of trying to start a flower garden at one of my churches. The flowers could adorn the sanctuary during worship, but also be given to neighbors or people in assisted living homes. Many people in my churches know agriculture and farming, but I (having lived almost completely in cities) do not. So God could use this as a chance for us to share in the gift of life that happens when a seed is planted.