Green - The Liturgical "Go" of Kingdomtide

The banners in the sanctuary colorfully proclaim it. Now soil offers soul a sign as greening JCGardens cover winter beds with the liturgical "go" - green - of kingdomtide.

Check out the promise. Kennydale UMC's JCGarden, the layout so clear in the photo below, is almost lost in a sea of green (bottom, right), hiding the little crosses representing the four Christian acts, as it overflows with the promise of food. Click on the photo and the detail of the coming Kennydale harvest is revealed - beans, onions, tomatoes, carrots...What feasts await!

Could it be that the harvest of God's kingdom is realized only as the cross is "lost" in the countless, anonymous "green" acts of compassion and justice performed by a people rooted in God through regular acts of devotion and worship? Makes me proud to be a part of the two lectionary groups where we wrestle with the words of the Word who plays in creation, plays in history and plays in community...and who prepares the banquet table to which all are invited.

Watering Soil and Soul

Jerusalem Cross gardening of soil and soul continued this last Wednesday evening. The soil in the JCGarden was watered. And souls were "watered" too through acts of faith as micro-loans were made to the poor to help them help themselves.

The evening began in the sanctuary. Three recent confirmands considered what to do with their baptismal water. Rather than "waste" holy water mindlessly, it was decided to pour it onto the four little crosses of the JCGarden so that it might continue as sign. There it will nurture the herbs planted to remind us of the four acts - devotion, worship, compassion and justice - Christians are called to engage in which help nurture our souls.

From the garden we moved to the CommonGround Cafe in Remembrance Hall so that the fragrance of the herbs in the crosses might be released into holy action. Interest free loans to "little" entrepreneurs across the world, aspiring to help themselves but lacking only the capital, were prayerfully made with Kiva.com's aid. About $400 was prayerfully allocated to Felicia Coffie of Ghana, Lititiana Faleti of Samoa, and Lider de Pinedo of Peru,... and compassion and justice was done...kingdomtide advanced.

Baptismal Water - Needing a Place to Go

Water is precious and life giving. Holiness is too. So the question is, what do we do with the precious, holy water remaining in the baptismal font after a baptismal service?

On Pentecost Sunday we confirmed three young ladies, baptizing two of them. The water is still in the baptismal font, though the second Sunday in Kingdomtide has come and gone. I don't want to waste this precious holy water in any mindless act - like pouring it down the drain or turfing it out on the lawn. For it is still precious. It is still holy. And so it is still there...potentially life giving, capable of nurturing soil and soul, needing an appropriate place to go.

Soil and soul! Why not? Why not let the holy water continue as "outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace?" Why not?

And so we, the three confirmands and I - Kaylee, Kelsey, Emily and Pastor Roger - will gather soon to water devotion, worship, compassion and justice, as these are represented by the four herbs planted in the four little crosses of the Jerusalem Cross Garden. Perhaps this use of the holy, baptismal water, will help us watch the herbs grow with a special interest. And as we watch them yield their fragrant leaves, perhaps we will "remember our baptisms" and be grateful, even as we reflect on how our Christian lives, rooted in acts of devotion and worship, engage in kingdom actions of compassion and justice. Or do not!

And there is more as we potentially connect garden with CommonGround Cafe. Harvesting and using these herbs at church meals to flavor our food, perhaps we will "taste and see that the Lord is good," helping the outward and visible and "tastable" to nurture the inward and invisible within our souls - that we might be fed both of soil and soul.

Definition: Sacrament - An outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace.

Green of Garden and Kingdomtide

The day of pentecost has come and gone. The green season of kingdomtide now begins for Christians everywhere. And our green liturgical banners in the sanctuary celebrate the promise of this season. Their color reminds us both of the new growth in our Jerusalem Cross Garden and of the hope congregational actions which help grow Gods' kingdom can bring.

In the Jerusalem Cross Garden, vegetable plants are being added regularly. The latest has been a row of onion starts, lots of tomatoes, companion planted with the herb basil which is reported to add flavor to the tomatoes even as it helps control pests, an egg plant and a green pepper plant. And meanwhile the perennials - plants that wonderfully minimize work and optimize the yield of a garden - especially the four grape vines, have leafed out with multiple small bunches of grapes, miniatures, teasing us with what can be. All around us the invisible hand of God is at work. Beneath the surface of the soil earthworms are eating plant detritus and transforming it into castings rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (N, P, K), all elements which enrich the soil and help in healthy plant growth and food production. And as the garden matures, the hidden hand of God, so intricately at work in mini-miracles like photosynthesis around us, manifests itself in the gift of food.

So the green of the growing garden beckons the green actions of compassion and justice this kingdomtide. Purchasing Fair Trade Coffee and our confirmands $1000 micro-loan program are wonderful existing kingdomtide actions. But I'm wondering what other life giving adventures to grow Gods' kingdom Christ has for us this kingdomtide. Any ideas?

In the meantime, let's watch our tiny wheat field move towards a rich harvest, and hear again Gods' promise to act in soil and soul.

Fellow Crossbearing Gardeners at Kennydale UMC

Rev. Tom Carlson, who served Community UMC here in Leavenworth some time back, noticed our JC Garden when he kindly joined us for our centennial celebrations in 2007. His congregation now joins us on a journey of gardening soil and soul. Read Tom's note to his congregation at Kennydale UMC below and take a look at the photo of their own JC Garden.

KENNYDALE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH------SUMMER 2009

From the Pastor's Desk: Summer has finally arrived...

Many folks have been stopping by and looking at our Jerusalem Cross Garden, in the front yard of our Church building. The comments have
been varied, but all have been very positive. Soon, I hope to have some leaflets available to the public explaining what this garden is all about. Rev. Roger Hudson, in his Jerusalem Garden blog, calls it gardening of soil and soul. You can read more about it at---------------------------------------http://www.jerusalemcrossgarden.blogspot.com/. In the course of the summer, I will share with you all the meaning of the four smaller crosses inside the four larger plots. Then, the Lord willing, there will be vegetables to share throughout the growing season.
- Rev. Tom Carlson

Four crosses, four herbs, four acts

Jerusalem Cross Gardening is happening again this year. Food is growing! And so is faith!

Leading the way, food wise, is the winter wheat, growing in the "justice quadrant." Already heading out beautifully, we are anticipating enough flour for a small loaf of bread on Autumn Leaf Harvest Sunday. The bright yellow marigold seedlings, natural pest repellents in the ecology of God, add color to the green of wheat and brown of soil. Volunteer nasturtiums, self seeded from last years' crop, surprise us everywhere in the "worship quadrant." The four sets of three bush beans look ever so small to yield enough beans for that harvest meal later in the year. But as we take time to tend the soil, yield they will - one must simply have faith.

Which is what happens when we take time to tend our souls. There is a yield as tangible as the aroma from any of the four herbs planted in each of the four crosses. These crosses remind us of the four acts - acts of devotion, acts of worship, acts of compassion and acts of justice - that help flavor our spiritual journeys. Justice is being done in the micro-loan program adopted by the three young ladies who were baptised/confirmed on Pentecost Sunday this year. Having already raised $725 towards their goal of $1000, this money is loaned through www.kiva.org, and will eventually help hundreds of poor folk help themselves. The girls excitement is palpable! Doing justice, God's will is done, and we are inspired and fed.

Acts of devotion are happening too in our congregation. Two lectionary groups are meeting weekly at the church with fourteen members participating. As the Word is read and discussed and applied, it is being enfleshed in our lives and we are changing, journeying into holiness.

So Jerusalem Cross Gardening of soil and soul -wheat, marigolds, nasturtiums, beans, herbs along with justice and devotion. A yield is on its' way. We simply need join God as God lovingly plays in creation (Father), history (Christ Jesus) and community (Holy Spirit). The rest is faith!