The Spiritual Garden

How many of you find God's peace being in nature, among trees, plants and gardens? Or in gardening? 

Yes, there is just something about plants! 

And I think it is no coincidence that the Bible is full of references and stories about plants and planting.   Can you think of a few? 

Right up in the very front, in the book of Genesis we have;  "The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good." Gen 1:12

And then there is that famous garden, the Garden of Eden.  "Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden... "  Gen 2:9

And there is also the Garden of Gethsemane.   Which, by the way is actually an olive orchard!

Stories and metaphors about plants & planting abound; crops, pruning, planting, harvesting & plucking up, even bushes that burn!   And then there are the parables...

The "parable of the sower" comes to mind.   You know, the story where a sower goes to sow seeds and some land on rocky soil and other not so good places. Plants sprout up, but they soon die due to not being able to grow well in shallow, rocky soil.  

The lesson, conditions of soil affect growth.  Literally, metaphorically...and spiritually.

Yes, plants have been particularly on my mind lately.  You see, for many years I had a beautiful, mature tree in the center of my backyard.  And my tree was a magnificent tree.   It was the focal point and shaded my entire backyard.    It had such "presence"!  

It was a tree that does not ordinarily grow in the desert.  But where I live in Phoenix, we have flood irrigation, so many of the houses in my area have huge, mature trees.   

But alas, this past year, my magnificent tree started to have trouble.  Its huge branches began to droop, and many branches began drop off.   Obviously, there was something seriously wrong with my tree.   I tried to save the tree, called the experts, arborists and tried many things, but nothing seemed to help.   Over the year, more and more branches kept coming down.   My poor tree... was dying. 

And last month, I finally had to have the tree cut down & removed.   Watching it being cut down was just heartbreaking.    The tree that was the center, the focal point of my entire backyard... is gone.  Sigh.  Now my backyard seems so... without focus...so empty...it does not even look or feel like my backyard anymore...

I know, it may sound strange, to grieve the loss of a plant.  But plants are alive.  They have a mysterious presence that we all can feel.  Remember "The Secret Lives of Plants"!

My first thought was to plant a new tree.  And right away as my backyard was so empty. Replace it with another tree that would provide nice shade, presence and greenery.

But wait.  That was the feeling I had.  It said, "wait".  And so I listened.

Why did my tree die?   Was it old age?  Did the tree have a disease?  Did pests or parasites attack it?  Or was something not right with the soil?   Perhaps it was time to thoroughly investigate this before replanting. 

Now, some of you may be wondering what my "tree story" has to do with the Gospel reading for today or the fact it is the second Sunday of Advent?    Well, I will tell you...it has everything to do with it!

For those of you that have been involved with gardening and planting, you know that preparation, specifically preparation of the soil is a big part of growing healthy plants & trees.  

Gardens are a wonderful spiritual metaphor & can have a multitude of meanings.    

What can gardens represent metaphorically & spiritually?     [Our hearts, life...transformation...]

And in today's gospel reading we have John the Baptist saying "Prepare the way of the Lord!   The voice of the one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord!...". 

Now, this passage has usually been interpreted as being that John the Baptist "prepared" the way for the ministry of Jesus. 

But what if we looked at this passage thru the lens of a gardening metaphor?

Every year we have the cycle of seasons; here we are about to go into winter.  We have the church seasons, and once again here we are in Advent.  Advent is a time of preparation, we prepare for the coming of the Lord.  To receive the Lord... in our hearts! 

As for my tree, after checking the soil in my yard, I found that indeed there was / is something wrong with my soil.  So for the next year or so, I will be preparing the soil and getting it ready.   And when I do plant a new tree, the soil will be healthy, conducive to new life and growing a new, healthy tree!

Prepare the way of the Lord.  

So, in contemplating this, I ask you, does your heart, your "spiritual garden" perhaps need some tending?

Hanging on to old anger?  Maybe your spiritual garden needs "weeding". 

Unenthused with life lately?  Stuck in a rut?   Maybe your spiritual garden needs some "spiritual" mulch or fertilizer!!

Feeling drained or a lack of energy?   Perhaps your spiritual garden may have some "spiritual parasites" that need to be removed.

How, or in what ways does your spiritual garden need to be tended?

Let us think and pray on this.

And this holy season of Advent, let us all tend our spiritual gardens...and 'Prepare the way of the Lord'!   

Amen.

[Sermon given on DEC 6, 2015 at St Thomas Episcopal Church, Clarkdale, AZ]

I think my sister is in Mykonos...

Walkway in Mykonos, white & blue

In the spring semester of my first year of seminary, on a rainy San Francisco Bay Area afternoon, I received a phone call from my sister.  She and her husband liked to vacation in Greece, specifically the Greek isle of Mykonos.  They had been there multiple times, staying for two or three months each summer.

And with this phone call, my sister invited me to to Mykonos for the summer.  She said I could stay as long as I wanted with them at their condo, I just had to get myself to Greece.        (!)

I just couldn't resist, I said, "Well let me check my schedule..."...(pretending to check)... "Well... OK!"    She knew I was teasing.  Of course I was delighted to be invited and very excited to come and visit them in Greece!  I had never been there before.

And although I really could not afford a plane ticket to Athens on my graduate student's budget, I did it anyway.

And I am so very glad I did. For now this trip was twenty plus years ago ... and now my sister is gone, having passed away a few years ago. 

And so when that first year of seminary spring semester ended, off I flew to Athens, Greece.  My sister met me at the airport.

We spent a few days in Athens seeing the sites and then we flew to Mykonos.  Her husband was there with all their friends and their little bar he had become partial owner with a Greek resident.

How do I describe Mykonos?  The place was an island, sort of deserty and stark.  The buildings in the little town and harbor were painted white, and the doors and trim of many balconies and window shutters were painted ocean blue.  In the town, there were very narrow walkways, no streets.  Lots of little shops, restaurants and bars.  And of course, the harbor.

This painting captures the essence of Mykonos

There were many tourists there, mostly Europeans on "holiday" arriving on plane and from the many ships that came in to the harbor everyday.  It seemed to be a place that attracted the jet set and wealthy types who liked to party and drink all day and all night.

The Thomas McNight painting to left looks so much like the patio view of the town and harbor in Mykonos from my sister's condo. 

As for the Greek people who lived there, they seemed to tolerate the tourists, but also seemed to keep their distance.

The island was dotted with cute little Greek Orthodox Chapels.  Teeny tiny.  Many people had chapels in their back yard, their own private chapel!   As well, there were cats everywhere.  The Greeks love cats.  People put food out for them near their doorsteps every day.

One day my sister and I took a Dolphin boat that zoomed across the Mediterranean Sea to the islands of Tinos and Delos.

In Delos we visited the temple where Artemis and Apollo were born.  There were also countless other temples of Dionysus and the remnants of ancient Greek houses, many with mosaic tile floors still there.

Greek blue doors

On the island of Tinos, there was a Greek Orthodox monastery where an apparition of the Virgin Mary had occurred.  My sister and I ate lunch (Greek salads with calamari of course) at a restaurant in the harbor and watched some Greek people arrive on boats.  Upon disembarking, they got down on their hands and knees and began to crawl up the four block cobble stone little road toward the monastery.

We were intrigued.  So after lunch we headed up the road towards the monastery.

As we walked up the road, we stopped in a few shops.  A little old Greek lady with a slight mustache smiled at us and pointed her finger back and forth at us.  "Sisters?"  she asked.  We knodded.  "Deutschland?" she asked.  We smiled,"No, America".

We wound up buying these six foot long giant, thin candles from her shop.  She said people lit them in the monastery for prayers.

There was a line of people to get in.  We waited in line.  When we got to the initial entrance, it looked like a darkened small stone room where people were lighting their giant candles and placing them in these large racks.   On the walls were large icons.  The place had a very solemn, holy feel.

My sister and I lit our candles and placed them in the racks, pausing to pray.  Being that were were not dressed appropriately (we were wearing shorts and shirts) we were not allowed to go any further.  But what we did get to experience was pretty amazing.

There were other adventures.  I stayed in Mykonos with my sister and her husband for almost three weeks.

And as I said above, all this was a long time ago.

At the time, it seemed like the price a plane ticket was beyond what I could afford back then, but now I know...the trip was priceless.    For now, my sister is gone.  But the love stays, the memories stay.  

For those who are reading this little story, the lesson is...go!  Travel!  Get out there!  Go do things and go places with your loved ones!   For someday, you may not be able to...

Over the years since my sister's passing,  I have wondered how she is, what she is doing...where she is...  

Perhaps she is in her version of heaven...her little Greek island paradise.  Mykonos.

Yes, I think my sister just might be...in Mykonos. 

A Little Place Called Hope...

Hope, AZ

This last month I took a long road trip and decided to avoid the interstate freeways whenever possible.   And, as the famous poem "The Road Not Taken" states, 

					"I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

And it really did.  

Unlike the interstate freeways, (which tend to be very boring), you get to experience each hill of the two lane road.   You get to go through each little town along the way.  You get to see and feel just how beautiful and peaceful the desert really is.  

And, you get to discover places you never knew where there and have kept their charm.  No massive freeway exits, no corporate restaurants, no massive gas stations... not much corporate anything...if any corporate business at all.

Heading east in Arizona, I took Highway 72 to 60, and driving through the desert, discovered a little town called Hope.     

Just a few buildings & houses, a small gas station and tiny church called "The Little Church of Hope", the teeny-tiny town had a special charm all its own.  

It was also very quiet.  No cars, no planes overhead, no traffic, no background noise.  Something we city people don't get to experience very often.  

The people of Hope also have a sense of humor, which I very much enjoyed.  For upon leaving the tiny town of Hope,  there was this sign along the side of the road:



Hey, we all need a little Hope now and then...