Gardening This Side of Eden

If you were to walk through our Courtyard garden you'd probably notice the absence of intruding weeds. I thought that was because the volunteer work crews who prepared the beds did such a great job removing the old growth prior to setting in new plants. WRONG!

On a recent “field trip” into the Courtyard with a youth bible study class - we were planting tulip and daffodil bulbs in response to Matthew 6:28 ...consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin... - I learned the deeper truth. The reason there are so few weeds is that the work crews installed a fabric barrier to keep weeds from pushing up through the topsoil. Not a bad thing.

But the unseen barrier intended to prevent unwanted sprouting up, hindered firmly our putting anything down! Planting bulbs to reinforce a truth about God's love and care - and the futility of our worry in the face of grace - turned into nearly impossible work. Work we weren't equipped for. Tablespoons were no match for the fabric's thickness.

Without making a conscious choice our focus shifted from casual and delightful planting, to fierce and furious assault with all manner of misplaced tools - like screwdrivers, scissors, paring knives and fingernails. Some of the kids threatened to give up the effort. But two adult leaders, Carl and Pastor Chuck, wise gardeners, encouraged us to embrace the new challenge with patience, diligence, respect for our misplaced tools, and some graceful-humor.

Visible barriers are much in the news lately. Terrorism continues to be a barrier to a free Iraq, as well as safe and easy travel here at home. Religious dogmatism plagues our politics and clogs our courtrooms.

But it's the unseen barriers that keep challenging people of faith to fend off worry and embrace grace. Poverty continues to firmly hinder families from putting down deep roots in our neighborhood. Domestic violence remains a barrier to our children's flourishing into adulthood, especially our young black males. Racism, even twelve weeks after President Bush signed the ingeniously titled Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization of 2006, is still a barrier to full-bloomed rights and civility.

Most of us keep finding ingenious ways to lay a thick barrier between our talk of faith and our walk of faith. And some of us keep assaulting internal and external barriers with all the wrong tools, like: moving out of the city, embracing a prosperity “gospel,” and fleeing into the anonymity of mega-churches!

The truth is, God has equipped us to move - to be led is more accurate - gracefully, through every barrier and into Kingdom fruitfulness. Matthew's Jesus goes on to say, “But strive first for the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” God is ready, willing and able to entice and to equip each of us to join God in the possible work God never tires of, or worries about - creating again, saving anew, and blessing once more.

And God keeps penetrating this garden we call First Trinity - as a means of grace - with wise gardeners, miracle growers. They encourage us not to give up, teach us to embrace each new challenge, and invite us to delight in both the hard work and the promised new blooms that God grows when we keep on Sharin' Plenty Good News!