Under Our Own Fig Tree

Sunday Readings............................. Daily Readings

Slowly, methodically, the Jerusalem Cross Garden is becoming a quiet space that speaks to matters of the heart and world.

An amphora fountain (soon to be connected) speaks of that water that will cause us never to thirst again. A memorial bench invites busy and distracted lives to linger awhile and be grounded by the cross. The lush garden points to the God of creation who bends all creation towards life. Food plants - grape vines, cabbages, wheat, carrots, squash, peppers, tomatoes, onions, herbs - speak of our God who provides all we need, perhaps calling us back to the basics in a world so practiced in excess. And in the shade of the pergola over the memorial bench, perhaps we can discover our "own fig tree" under which we can regularly sit to enjoy the fullness that comes from a life grounded in the Word and committed to Christian action.

Increase with God's Power

Sunday Readings...............Daily Readings

...you who plant with the word,
water with the Spirit,
and give your increase with your power
Prayer of the 12th Century Cisterian
Guerric of Igny

"...of Soil" - Planted by loving hands in the Creator's fertile soil, watered daily by our gardeners care, the garden grows. Wheat, already ripening on the stalk; grape vines, with spreading vines and swelling fruit; corn, rising to new heights as the giants of the garden they will become; and tomatoes, squash, peppers, lettuce, onions and more. Creative forces unleashed giving increase by the Creator's power.

"...of Soul" - Planted by that "in-the-beginning"-Word that "became flesh," and watered by God's Spirit, the divine image in our youth group blossomed as, sent to serve, they encountered hope and love and transformation in the residents of Hope Place in Seattle, people given increase by divine power. And that increase and that power, given from above, touched the hearts of our youth too! Jerusalem Cross gardening of soul happened as acts of compassion were engaged.

Sunday Readings - Readings for Sunday, August 8 and some good explanations (exegesis) can be found here. The Lectionary Groups will discuss the Hebrews text.

Jesus, the True Gardener

O Lord Jesus,
true gardener,
work in us what you want of us,
for without you we can do nothing.

For you are indeed the true gardener,
at once the maker and tiller
and keeper of your garden,
you who plant with the word,
water with the Spirit,
and give your increase with your power.

Prayer of the 12th Century Cisterian
Guerric of Igny

A new method for gardening of soil

Of Soil: The Blessing of Seeds and Gardens Sunday has come and gone over the weekend of Maifest here in Leavenworth. Seeds and seedlings were blessed... and the planting begun. Lettuce, spinach and cabbage seedlings were transplanted into the first bed that has been gridded out into square feet. So a new "method," the Square Foot Gardening method, is being explored, reducing our "gardening of soil" into bite-sized units so that the whole, step by step, methodically, might be more productive.

Of Soul: It's interesting to note the very real growth occurring in those participating in one of three weekly Lectionary Groups. Not only have participants chosen to live disciplined lives by engaging regularly in one of the acts represented by one of the small crosses in the Jerusalem cross - devotion - but in feeding weekly on God's Word and in Christian conversation exploring what God might be saying through that Word for that week, slowly, methodically, step by step, souls are being fed and lives shaped.

And the church as a consequence is stronger. Leadership is being exercised. And the Aldersgate Staff is leading us this year to Hope House and the Salt Lake City UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) Depot to serve.

Pentecost Looms and a Staff Waits to Guide Us

In slow progression, in step with the liturgical seasons - Christmas, epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost - THE STORY unfolds for another year to help shape our hearts and common life.

And we enact this story in multiple ways. A tree decorated our celebration of Emmanuel, God with us, Him who was and is the Light of the World. That same tree on epiphany moved out of the confines of the sanctuary into the Jerusalem Cross Garden, visible to the neighborhood, sign that the Light comes to shine a way in the darkness. Sited at the center of the Cross (click on photo, left, to enlarge), it reminded us that through regular practice of the four acts - devotion, worship, compassion and justice - God uses our light, Christ living in us, to draw all people to Him.

Now the Aldersgate Staff, made from the 09/10 Christmas tree, hangs on the CommonGround Gallery wall waiting to inspire us to step our way into a year of mission and service. Where will the same Holy Spirit that inspired John Wesley on Wednesday, May 22, 1738, in that chapel on Aldersgate Street, London, lead us this year?

We'll wait for Pentecost to prayerfully make our choice. Perhaps the Holy Spirit will decide? Kingdomtide awaits, a season of summertime adventure in service to God and Gods' kingdom.

In Christ there is no East or West but One Great Annual Conference

An e-mail from Rev. Tom Carlson, from the West side of the Cascades, and two photos say it all... Jerusalem Cross Gardening takes root in the "soil and soul" of the people called Methodist, East and West.

Roger, We are doing the Jerusalem Cross Garden again this year. The congregation wanted to do it! Note the new crosses for each quadrant. Thanks for the inspiration. I am forwarding 3 pictures taken on Sunday at the "Blessing Ceremony" - Tom Carlson, Kennydale UMC, Renton.

Thanks for sharing Tom. This Sunday is Maifest in Leavenworth, when we have our Blessing of Seeds and Gardens Sunday. We will be adopting the Square Foot Gardening (click here to find out more) method in the Jerusalem Cross Garden as a way of encouraging more people to have productive food gardens at home. Could this be the "method" for gardening the soil, just as our Lectionary Groups are the "method" for gardening our souls? Just how "methodist" can we helpfully become? Please stay tuned for photos and articles...and thank you for your encouragement.

Earth Day Sunday..."And God saw that it was good."

The 40th Earth Day has come and gone. And our little village of Leavenworth, along with the world, paused long enough in thought and deed to say a healthy creation - fresh air, good soil, clean water, robust forests - matters. Doing our part, our little congregation, with its' "new and improved" Jerusalem Cross Garden, in adding "Sunday" to "Earth Day", linked creation with our Creator. This is as it should be.

On Earth Day Sunday we dedicated a St. Francis of Assisi statue during worship. (click on photo to enlarge). We sowed spring wheat in the garden. And heaven and earth, creed and deed, were united for a moment in enacted truth that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Click here for song).

And during our simple Earth Day Sunday celebration, a whisper of the words spoken way back "in the beginning" were heard, ... "And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1: 10b). May it be so again!

Prayer: Dear Lord, let it be so again. May we encounter You in the garden (our own or the Jerusalem Cross Garden at church) as the invisible Conductor of the miracle of life - processes that yield bread for the table which, when broken as sacrament on the altar, feeds body and soul. And in our weekly wrestling with the Word in the lectionary groups, may our very lives, rooted in the Alpha and Omega, learn to speak love. Amen.