Gardening in the Desert – Worship Series for August, 2012
Series
Title: Gardening in the Desert
Anchor
Image: Gardening in the Desert (get some
videos at the Desert botanical Gardens?)
Threads:
Isaiah
58:11
GOD will always guide you,
giving relief in a sun-scorched land,
and will give strength to your bones.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Each week we will explore
1. the concepts as applied to the
physical world
2. the concepts as applied to my
personal spiritual struggles
3. the concepts as applied to how we are
called into the wider world (justice and compassion)
Week
1 – August 5
Frame:
Planning and Preparation
Preparing
the earth is a vital step in gardening. Most of the soil in our area needs a
lot of help; much of it is too sandy and dry. One has to plan the garden: what
will be raised? local flora? herbs? vegetables? flowers? To raise vegetables or
flowers the soil needs a lot of compost and fertilizer. Timing is different
here than other parts of the country.
One
of the issues we talked about was how we care for the earth, both the planet
and the soil in which the food of the world grows. In fields like in gardens,
crops need to be rotated so that the nutrients in the soil do not get depleted.
Crops raised with ever increasing demand for higher yields stress the land,
chemicals contaminate the soil (and run off, tainting the watershed), and
threaten the sustainability of the land. Part of our planning is to insure that
our earth can continue to grow food and life for the coming generations.
Which,
as we shift from physical issues to spiritual ones, raises the question as to
what in our spiritual gardening are we planning that can survive and grow for
the coming generations? What in the garden of our faith is worth planting and
growing and giving to others? Like heirloom seeds, we may have to reclaim something
of the past even as we decide what has had its flavor or succulence hybridized
away.
More
personally, as hectic as daily life can become, if we do not plan our spiritual
garden the weeds of obligation will overgrow the land. Even taking time to
worship together gets squeezed out by all the other things we want to do. Time
for personal growth and reflection becomes almost impossible to come by. We
have to plan time to garden, just as much as a plan to garden. The Open Studios
are a good example of this. Some of realized the need for us to plan time to
create art. We were not taking the time every day, so we planned to take the
time and make it happen.
The
gospels show us that Jesus was known to step away from his daily obligations
and routine in order to be alone with God. In the terms of our series, I would
say that he was tending his garden. Luke
5:15-16 says “But now more than ever the
word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be
cured of their diseases. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.”
Along these lines, the importance of Sabbath time for God’s people is constant
throughout the bible. Sabbath is time to rest, restore, and enjoy God’s
presence (much like a fallow field is restored by resting).
So
I propose that we begin our series by planning and preparing the soil. We might
talk about the kinds of things our spiritual soil needs to be ready to support
growth. As we name each need, we can add loam or compost to a tub of sand up
front, mixing it all until we have healthy soil. We noted in our brainstorming session
that “The feel of your hands in the dirt has a spiritual dimension.” We can
invite those who wish to do so to come forward and place their hands in the
prepared soil. I think we also need to think about how this soil will
eventually get used, even if it is given to a gardener to us in their beds.
A
simple video that speaks about gardening (though not gardening in the desert)
is on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dcVpKkt49I&feature=related I think it can give us some good starting
places.
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