By Hannah Skipper
“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
– John 15:1-5 (NIV)
Last summer my church started a new outreach program by planting a community garden. Our goal was to not only supplement fresh vegetables for the disadvantaged community in our midst, but also to encourage our neighbors to plant and upkeep rows for themselves. After some fits and starts over logistics, we planted our first little seedlings and were promptly wiped out by the last gasp of the Florida summer rains and the scorching heat. The loss of the tiny plants reminded me of The Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23; Mark 4:2-8, 13-20; Luke 8:4-8, 11-15). Of course, that setback didn’t deter us and when we tried again with more established plants, we got a nice autumnal crop.
Now, I don’t have much of a green thumb…I’ve killed a Chia Pet once…but I’ve pitched in to help with the church garden and enjoyed myself. My favorite part has been the conversations we’ve had while raking, digging, planting, irrigating, and weeding. Sometimes the chatter is about “trivial” things, like our favorite sports teams and other times we’d go deeper into spiritual matters or discuss what Bible study classes we’re taking and why. Then, when we’d finished for the day, we gather around a picnic table laden with food and drink to relax together and enjoy the results of our work. It’s really great fellowship!
We’re planting our spring crop now and a funny thing already happened. Some of our crops came from friends in the agriculture industry, but they didn’t tell us beforehand what we were getting so we ended up with a lot more tomato plants than we needed. The unanticipated tomato bounty made me think of when Jesus fed the five thousand (Matt. 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-43, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-15) because the loaves and fishes also provided an unanticipated bounty. We are making the most of it too, by potting and selling our excess plants so people can grow them at home. It has been very popular!
Hopefully, this idea will also bring more success to a part of Garden Church that has been, thus far, less effective – our outreach to our disadvantaged neighbors. That’s not to say that they don’t welcome fresh veggies if we knock on their door and hand them produce; but we haven’t gotten as much interest in them tending their own space. Perhaps, this is like other evangelistic efforts. Have you ever met someone who was okay with a light conversation on spirituality but their interest wavered when you go deeper?
Hopefully, as our spring crop continues to grow, we will be able to grow a bigger crop of people!
Cover Photo by Pexels Free Photos