Gardening and Ministry

What a wonderful spring we have had this year! Mild sunny days came earlier than usual…or so it seems to me…and with them came great planting weather. Jean and I have spent our weekends and days off preparing our flower and vegetable gardens for planting and, after we were sure it was time, planting. Hard work, but we love the results! We do the work of the preparing and planting…but we have little control over the results…that’s up to God. Oh sure, all summer we weed, cultivate and water…doing what we can do to help things along…but the growth comes from God.

There are some remarkable parallels between gardening and ministry. As the church, we (all of us, not just the pastors and staff) work hard to prepare hearts and minds and plant seeds of faith. And then we ‘weed, cultivate and water’ in order to help things along by creating a favorable environment for faith to grow. We do this for ourselves and others by listening to and learning from Jesus, praying, attending worship and receiving Holy Communion, and by giving generously of ourselves by sharing God’s love with others. But the actual growing in faith comes from God…through the work of the Holy Spirit.

This summer, our Gospel readings encourage us to pay attention to the hard work of growing in faith…the preparing, planting, weeding, cultivating and watering…that helps create good conditions for the Spirit of God to bring about the growth. Again, the growth comes from God, but we certainly have a role in ‘helping things along.’ So over the summer, we are offering a number of opportunities to help you help the Spirit grow faith in you, and to help you grow in service to others.

In keeping with the ‘gardening’ theme, we are sharing God’s love with others by growing produce to give away to the hungry in DeKalb in our ‘Giving Garden’ this summer. Please let us know if you would like to grow in faith by helping feed the hungry through this project.

In addition to encouraging you to grow in faith by continuing to faithfully worship this summer, we are also gathering outdoors around a campfire for ‘WOW! (Worship on Wednesdays)’ an informal gathering for song, prayer, scripture and conversation, at 6:30 PM on June 9, 23, July 14, 28, and August 11.

Some gatherings of small groups are also being planned to help people grow in faith and service by becoming better connected with others in the congregation and finding ways to serve in areas where they have an interest or talent.

And, of course, we invite all the children to come and grow in faith (and adults who would like to help them grow) as we set sail on High Seas Expedition Vacation Bible School the mornings of June 21-25.

And then there’s the mission trip to Guatemala coming up in January 2011 (I bring it up now because it will be good to know who’s coming before the end of summer), which I guarantee will be a ‘faith growing’ experience as we share God’s love with the poorest of the poor by working with the School of the Saints.

A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path… Other seeds fell on rocky ground… Other seeds fell among thorns… Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold... Matthew 13:3b, 4a, 7a, 8a

Growing in Faith. Sharing God’s Love.
Pastor Roy+