Gardening in the Desert Week 4 - Harvest

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 giving 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 4 – August 26

Frame: Harvest

Deuteronomy 24:17-22

 You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

 When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.

                When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.

                My favorite table grace, I am told, comes from Argentina. In its original Spanish it goes: “Bendice Senor nuestro pan y de pan a los que tienen hambre y hambre de justicia a los que tienen pan

Bendice Senor nuestro pan.” In English it says: “God bless to us this bread. Give bread to all those who are hungry, and hunger for justice to those who are fed. God bless to us this bread.” I like this prayer (which also has a musical setting)because it captures the biblical connection between our food and the hunger of the poor. There is a direct link between food and justice. Food is not given to us to sate our own desires. Our food is in effect everybody’s food. Anyone’s hunger is an indictment of our selfishness.

                This is seen in the instructions given in Deuteronomy (as well as Leviticus) that fields are not to be harvested completely. In fact much of any harvest is already spoken for. Of course there was the temple tithe, ten per cent right off the top- the first fruits. But beyond that this instruction is given to leave intact the edges of the field, to leave in place any forgotten sheaves, and to allow grapes to remain on the vine. In each case, these are for “the alien, the widow and the orphan.” In Leviticus it says more directly that these are for the poor. It was Israel’s social safety net, their social security. And moreover, these instructions are not given in the spirit of what our culture derisively calls charity. These acts of compassion are directly indicative of the character of the people of Israel. Israel is not ultimately concerned with the bottom line (i.e. making every available dollar from the fields of crops). It is more important that there be food available to the unprotected poor and even non-citizen aliens because “you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” This is the essence of the Christian idea that we are “in the world but not of the world.” In some sense, we are still strangers in a strange land. Remembering that, we hold compassion for other sojourners as a core value.

                And so as we come to the culmination of our series on Gardening in the Desert, we arrive at harvest time. But that arrival beckons us to recall that this harvest is not just for us. My peace gardener friend says that gardening is an act of hospitality because it provides food for whatever strangers may darken our door. We are ready for unexpected visitors. Spiritually speaking, when our lives bear fruit it provides a harvest for something beyond just our own benefit. God blesses us so that we might also be a blessing to others. Just as our physical garden may bring bounty enough to feed the poor, so our spiritual gardens may produce that harvest of grace, love, or justice that those around us are hungry for.

                In that spirit of sharing our bounty, maybe this Sunday should in some way be a “spiritual farmers’ market.” It may be empowering to name what grows in our gardens, what we have been given and what we are willing to share. How are our spiritual gardens empowering us to do the acts of extravagant hospitality?

                I offer the table grace as a framework for Sunday’s Studio: 1. blessing, 2. hunger for food, 3. hunger for justice, 4. blessing. It is a cyclical movement. We give thanks for what our gardens grow. That gratitude can feed the hungry. That awareness opens our hearts to the needs of others. Which brings us back to gratitude.  In the framework of Deuteronomy: we give thanks for the harvest, leave the edges of the field for the poor, working for the day when all are fed equally, which will be a day of great thanksgiving indeed!