Random bits

I’m tired, but the good kind of tired.  The kind of tired where you’ve been working hard outside and in the garden, haven’t showered in a few days, and have a killer farmer’s tan.  The last few gorgeous days, we’ve seen our little neighborhood block come to life — neighbors helping neigbors dig up ugly bushes (then introducing themselves), ordinary folks turning weedy, grown-over plots of land into gardens, and folks stopping by just to say hi.

Ahh, springtime in Boston. =)

And the weekend’s only half over!

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A couple resources to point you toward:

• Christine Sine of Mustard Seed Ministries in Seattle has just released (on lulu as an e-book) “Gardening With God,” which is a compilation of her reflections on gardening and Christian spirituality.
• I recently ordered Vigen Guroian’s Inheriting Paradise: Meditations on Gardening, which promises to be a great read.  I love his stuff.
• And on a slightly different note, Chrissy’s working through An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor, a book in which the former minister explores the spiritual nature of ordinary practices: waking up to God, paying attention, walking the Earth, encountering others, saying no, and pronouncing blessings, among others.  I’m pretty excited about reading it when Chrissy’s done.

  

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Our good friends just got back to Boston from some time in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  While in PA, they had the opportunity to stay for a few days with a Mennonite family in Amish country to get to know a little bit more about the rhythmic, simple way of being practiced in that part of the world.  They said they were blown away by the intense faith put into action that is practiced by the Amish (and Mennonites, for that matter), who believe wholeheartedly that a faith that doesn’t radically augment every part of your life (and your community’s life) is no faith at all.  They told us of a short video they watched in one of the museums where an Amish man is asked if he’s a Christian.  His response?  “Don’t ask me; I could tell you anything.  Ask my neighbor.”

A few days later, they happened to be in a small WV town on the “National Day of Prayer.”  The town held some sort of prayer service in the center of town where person after person got up and prayed forcefully for a different area of our national government.  As our friends listened to prayers being screamed into a mic for the U.S. military to remain “the mighty arm of God in the world,” they said they couldn’t help but think of the previous days they’d spent among the Amish, who quietly lead radical lives that put into practice the teachings of Jesus in ways many of us can only dream of.  They thought of the Amish community’s forgiveness of a killer who took 12 of their children from them in a tragic shooting.  Looking at these two experiences of Christianity side-by-side, they thought, “Are these two expressions even the same faith?”

who knew?

From The General Laws of Massachusetts:

PART IV. CRIMES, PUNISHMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL CASES

TITLE I. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

CHAPTER 272. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY, DECENCY AND GOOD ORDER

Chapter 272: Section 36. Blasphemy

Section 36. Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.

God Talk

Stanley Fish wrote a compelling piece for Sunday’s New York Times in which he reviews and provides commentary on Terry Eagleton’s new book, Reason, Faith and Revolution. Here is the opening paragraph as a teaser:

In the opening sentence of the last chapter of his new book, “Reason, Faith and Revolution,” the British critic Terry Eagleton asks, “Why are the most unlikely people, including myself, suddenly talking about God?” His answer, elaborated in prose that is alternately witty, scabrous and angry, is that the other candidates for guidance — science, reason, liberalism, capitalism — just don’t deliver what is ultimately needed.

Read the whole thing here.

Putting work and rest in perspective

Podcasts » Emergent Village » MclarenCast: Episode 1, Part 2.

Here is a beautiful reminder from Brian McLaren (in podcast form) of our place in Creation and the importance of taking time out to rest and do those things that refresh us.  (listen to part 1 here)

Pregnant with expectation

It’s May, and Spring has officially arrived in New England.

We’ve been enjoying the beauty and new life of the season, both farther and closer to home, as well as in our garden.

Yesterday, we rented a car and hit the highway driving north to Beverly, where we volunteered for the morning with a co-worker of mine at his library book sale.  After he took us out for a coffee (we had smoothies) at a funky joint in town, we hit the road to drive around a bit on the north shore.  Driving north on Rt. 22, we happened upon Long Hill, a property of the Trustees of Reservations in Beverly, MA.  This place, which is open to the public just about any time, is 114 acres of gardens, forests, trails, meditation areas, and a gorgeous home.  We noticed right away that the land is the home to the Beverly gardens run by the Food Project, the non-profit that encourages local, urban gardening and that built our raised-bed garden.

As we drove up the hill, we parked and began walking through a series of small trails where trees were in full bloom, seedlings were in the ground, and flowers were beginning to come in.  Throughout the poperty were natural and built sitting areas and gazebos for reflection and meditation, and we definitely plan to return to spend the morning reflecting there.  Set against an ever-greening background of forest, this place was one of the most gorgeous and serene places I’ve been in New England.

The biggest takeaway from Long Hill were the smells.  I was blown away by the diverse and sweet fragrances coming off the blooming plants and trees, smells that put to shame the counterfeit perfumes that we humans manufacture.  I’m still amazed at how the aesthetic beauty and fragrance are built into our natural world for our own enjoyment alone.  We’re learning how to enjoy this better and more often. (see all the photos from the day by clicking here)

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Our garden is shaping up nicely.  Seedlings continue to spring up, and we’ve been at the difficult job of “thinning.”  For those of you who don’t now, thinning is when you separate plants that share a common container and choose the ones that will continue on, as well as those that probably will not survive.  Peppers, for instance, tend to be very territorial with long roots that take up space.  They tend to “fight” with each other for survival, and if they are not thinned, one plant may hinder the growth of the rest.  Thus it is the gardener’s job to make the difficult decision of which pepper plants live, and which ones die. That’s that.  I wouldn’t touch a spiritual or theological application of “thinning” with a ten-foot garden hoe.

Other highlights from our garden:

- Onions are out of the house and in the garden outside.  Boy, are they hard to transplant.  So fragile.

- Planted from seed the following in the garden: squash, melon, watermelon, beets, and more carrots.

- Peas are trellised and coming up nicely.  What gorgeous little sprouts peas are.  It’s a shame I don’t like peas.

- We are growing potatoes in a tire.  That’s right — we covered the bottom of a normal car tire (our neighbors had 4 that they were done with), filled it with soil, and planted potatoes.  As they grow up, we’ll stack more tires and add more soil.  This is apparently the way it’s done in many places around the world, and seems perfect for urban gardening.  (here’s an article about recycling tires for gardening)

- some garlic that we planted last year and met zero success is coming up this year.  We’ll see how it turns out.

Here are the latest pics from our garden:

I’m convinced nature is the simplest way to connect with the Divine, and when we are not doing this, it is our loss — and God’s.

Why Gardening? #1: Eden.

What was Paradise?
but a garden,
an orchard of trees
and herbs, full of pleasure,
and nothing there but delights.
— William Lawson

The three major monotheistic religions trace their ancestry back to an almost unbelievable story in which the Earth consists of two human beings living in communion with their creator in a garden, which we call Eden.  The Genesis account is a poem that reveals that at the core of our being, humans were intended to garden.  There’s something central to what it means to be human to connect in a very real and tangible way to the natural world, namely to put so much trust in it to provide both physical and aesthetic sustenance.

I recently read the Genesis account in the bible in a completely new light as a gardener, and I noticed a few things I hadn’t seen before.  I’d encourage you to read the entire first two chapters of Genesis with this in mind, but here is a short excerpt from Genesis 1: 27-31:

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Chapter 2 describes how God breathes life into man in the same way that he sent rain on the earth to raise up the shrubs.  It goes on to describe the garden, Eden, that God planted in the east:

… There he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the three of the knowledge of good and evil.

For maybe the first time ever (some of you are thinking, boy is he dense), I noticed that even before “the Fall,” Adam and Eve are tending to the garden and ruling over the livestock.  In this sense, “work” (at least in the garden) wasn’t a product of human rebellion, but a part of the delights of perfect Eden.  There may be some debate, of course, as to the difficulty of the work, but it is clear from this text that there is something intrinsically human about gardening — the kind of gardening that is both “pleasing to the eye and good for food.” There is even an apocryphal Armenian tale suggesting that when Adam & Eve when they were expelled from the garden, they were so distraught at the life — of gardening together in communion with God — that God had pity and gave them our world, with its trees and plants, in which to live.  In The Fragrance of God, Vigen Guroian writes:

Some of the early Christian writers speculate that in Paradise gardening was not drudgery but sheer delight. When Adam gardened, he imitated his Maker in a purely recreative act of cultivation and care. He did not need to subdue the earth in order for it to yield fruit. Rather, the plants were Adam’s palette, and the earth was his canvas. There was nothing but delight in the Garden, for Eden itself means “garden of delight.”

One of the symptoms of the disconnected lives that we lead — both from our Creator and from each other — is our disconnect from the garden.  We no longer know the origin of our food, if most of it can even be called that.  We have been conditioned to eat what we want when we want it, and waiting is not even an option.  We rarely, if ever, venture into nature to marvel at, let alone smell the roses, as the old cliché says.  All of these things are a part of God’s original intent for humanity, and thus we can assume they reveal or manifest important truths about God and ourselves.  As I interact with a garden of my own this summer and fall, it is my intent to discover and reflect on these truths on this blog.  I will share the progress (many times with photos) of our own plants, as well as quotes, articles, lessons learned, and deeper reflections from our experience of gardening.

I hope you’ll wait and marvel with us through this season of planting and tending, for a bountiful harvest awaits us.

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We got a few more seeds into the ground on Saturday, but the majority of the plants are too small still and the nights too cool to be transplanted outside.  My guess is that if we can string together a week or so of 70+ degree days with sun, we’ll see some significant growth.  C’mon, sun!

This week, we’re plant-sitting our neighbors’ seedlings while they are away on business, so we’ve got twice as many little plants that we’re trying not to kill.  Pray for us.

Can’t blog … it’s gorgeous out

Recession Garden

Just saw this news story, and it made me smile. My only question, though, is why it takes a recession to get people of faith thinking creatively? I’m not sure we’ll ever know…

Struggling church members plant recession garden

The Associated Press

Posted: 04/20/2009 11:35:51 AM PDT

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—A Bakersfield church is helping members who are struggling economically by offering them a plot of land for a garden. They can then sell produce at a church farmers market.Senior Pastor Ron Vietti of Valley Bible Fellowship says 90 people have signed up for the program designed to empower the unemployed.

A member of the 10,000-strong congregation donated an acre of land and irrigation equipment. Participants sowed the first seeds over the weekend.

The National Gardening Association says there will be a nearly 20 percent increase in gardening this year as people look for ways to cut food budgets. (link)

Happy Earth Week

I wish I could be out connecting with nature in some profound way instead of sitting in this here cubicle, but regardless, Happy Earth Day (today) and Earth Week (this week)!

This week, try to do one or two of the following:

plant something, pick up some litter, wish someone a happy Earth Week (and tell them why it’s significant to you), start recycling/composting, walk or bike somewhere, abstain from buying it, pray for the creation, hike or sit in nature with no agenda, paint/sketch a natural landscape, buy veggies from a farmer’s market, calculate your carbon footprint, research the environmental emphases in a handful of religious traditions, watch “The Story of Stuff” if you haven’t already, or ______________. (add your own)

First seeds in the ground

Today was a great day, mostly because we had a couple opportunities to participate in shared projects with our neighbors.  We highly recommend it for you, by the way.  It started by taking a drive with some friends to buy a composting bin. (see above)  We came home and joined many of our neighbors already picking up trash along our street.  A couple ordinary citizens simply organized the clean-up by stuffing some flyers in mailboxes, and it was great to meet several new neighbors and make our neighborhood a little cleaner.

If I had to pick a highlight of the day, though, it would be the afternoon, when we and a few of our immediate neighbors got the first vegetable seeds into our raised-bed garden outdoors.  Here in Boston, we’re just past the threat of freezing overnight, so it was time to plant a few of the heartier seeds: peas, lettuce, and carrots.  It wasn’t much, but it was certainly a milestone in our first food garden, and we loved getting to share the moment with a few of the other owners in our condo cluster.  This is all of our garden, after all.