God In My Garden
HOMILY
There is a poem that I first saw on an embroidered sampler,
the sort of hand craft item that used to hang in New England
parlors. Perhaps you have it, or have seen it.
Surrounded by fancy stitches depicting flowers and garden
paths and gates, the text goes:
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
I am nearer to God in my garden
Than anywhere else on earth”
I didn’t choose this text because it is great
poetry, it isn’t;
although it is the best stanza from an otherwise rather dreary poem
by Dorothy Frances Gurney about God and Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. This version is really a misquote of the
original poem….but it fits my purpose this Sunday
morning. So I have taken this as my text and will spend a little time
this morning exploring the “spirituality of gardens” and some of the
lessons I have learned while working or walking in my garden.
The first lesson that I want to share with you has to do with
continuity and connection. Flower gardens usually contain some
annuals and some perennials…Annuals, like petunias and marigolds
add a quick splash of color—but have to be reseeded or planted
each spring; Perennials are those plants that put down roots and
come back year after year after winter has passed.
I find that certain annuals have scattered seeds and many perennials
have put down roots in my heart. They have the power to evoke
the memories of loved ones who have passed on. For that reason I
plant them in my garden.
I can’t imagine starting a New England garden
and not having some lupine growing in it…because my mother
loved them so….and was especially proud of them in her garden in
Eastport, Maine. She was also fond of nasturtiums and
father regularly included some of them for her, in the annual beds. I
have both lupine and nasturtiums growing in my garden in
Gorham…for my mother. There is some version of immortality
planted with the lupine and nasturtiums. I remember her.
My Dad was a master gardener….and most of what I know about
gardening I learned by watching him. He was an expert on
compost…and I think long before the Green Movement...he
understood the spirituality of the compost pile and the importance of
giving back to the earth more than we take from it. There is
something very much like reincarnation in the compost
pile….whereby today’s coffee grounds and eggshells, transform into
rich loam and then are re- incarnated as roses or sun flowers or
perhaps a tomato seedling that volunteers in the bed where the
compost was spread.
Indeed as in a garden, nothing is lost and nothing is wasted….Life is
a circle and we all come round again in some form or another.
Dad’s specialty was herbs, and the fragrance of thyme, sage, mint,
basil and a host more.. all have the power to call him back
When I work in or walk in my garden I find myself in the company
of loved ones. In the same way household shrines welcome back
the spirits and the blessings of the family’s ancestors. For me plants,
have the power to evoke spirits who carry with them LOVE and
blessings from the past. I can feel it. And since I believe
“God Is Love”…. I am “closer to
God in my garden than anywhere else on earth.”
Another spiritual lesson I have learned or been reminded of while in
my garden…..has to do with balancing “vision” and “patience” .
When we moved to our new home in Maine….we drew up a
master plan for the garden, My partner , literally drew it with
a stick on the bare soil of our acre lot and we set out digging and
planting,watering and weeding….
We had some success…but by fall we joined with all gardeners
everywhere….sighing and saying “Wait till next year!”
And immediately before the last leaf of fall had been raked into a pile
we.began re-arranging, raising,
enriching, tearing out and re-placing much of the effort and many of
the mistakes of the first year. I am happy to report we are having
much more success this year.
The lesson I derive from this is a gardener’s version of a line from
my Universalist upbringing…. That line was from the “Avowal of
Faith”: which we used to recite on Sunday mornings.
“We believe in the power of people of good will and sacrificial
spirit to overcome all evil and to progressively establish the
kingdom of God.”
As a gardener I paraphrase that tenet of faith and say, “I believe
that with good intentions and a willingness to work hard and with
time….it is possible to over come poor drainage, weeds and insects
and unfavorable climatic conditions” and “bit by bit and row by row
make my garden grow”. …
The concept of “progressively establishing
the Kingdom of God” is a reminder that one summer does not a
garden make…If I live a long life….I know that on my last garden
walk I will still pull a weed and I will be still noting that I need to dig
and divide this clump, or try that sickly looking plant in another
spot where it gets more or less sun or where the drainage is better
The corrolary of this garden lesson is….We may not be able to
change the world; ease all suffering or right
each wrong….but we can attend to our little corner and
thru our work and effort make it better. So in my garden, in my
neighborhood, in my social circle. I can and should live out my
principles and values and be a positive
force and “let my little light
shine”.
Another lesson I derive from my garden I am going to call the
“Buddha Thing”. It has to do with accepting the imperfection and
impermanence of the physical world and recognizing that attachment
and holding on is the source of suffering.
The garden is a place of growth…but it is
also a place of death and decay. Slugs are busy devouring the
yellowing leaf from the eggplant that failed to thrive due to the wet
and the cold this year, and the display of irises that delight me today
will be gone next week and I will reluctantly dead head the flower
stalks and add them to the compost pile.
Also the perfection of the rose….is really less than perfect when you
try to find the perfect one for a special occasion. Some are just a bit
over blown and losing petals….there is
a Japanese beetle eating the heart out of this one and that one is
a bit oddly shaped.…from a distance it all looks so
lovely….but as Robert Frost reminds us…..”nothing gold can stay.”
It is indeed impermanent….and that is part of the beauty….Artificial
flowers are predictable and unchanging…..but oh my! the
horror of a garden of dead lifeless beauty….I will take my “work in
progress” of living, growing and dying and decaying…over any plastic
substitute.
There are other lessons and proofs of lessons available to me in the
garden. The one that appeals to the visionary mystic part of my
spiritual self.is the opportunity to work in tandem with the
underlying Life Force that surrounds us all. For indeed although I call
it my garden, I don’t really possess it and I don’t really “grow”
anything. At best I facilitate nature and work with her to create the
garden. The processes and miracles and mysteries…are beyond my
understanding. and really beyond my control. I am an apprentice to
the Life Force found in the soil, in water, in seeds and in sun light.
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote about that mystery in his poem, “Flower
in a Crannied Wall” I will close with his words.
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies;
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand.
Little flower…but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is."
There is a poem that I first saw on an embroidered sampler,
the sort of hand craft item that used to hang in New England
parlors. Perhaps you have it, or have seen it.
Surrounded by fancy stitches depicting flowers and garden
paths and gates, the text goes:
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
I am nearer to God in my garden
Than anywhere else on earth”
I didn’t choose this text because it is great
poetry, it isn’t;
although it is the best stanza from an otherwise rather dreary poem
by Dorothy Frances Gurney about God and Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. This version is really a misquote of the
original poem….but it fits my purpose this Sunday
morning. So I have taken this as my text and will spend a little time
this morning exploring the “spirituality of gardens” and some of the
lessons I have learned while working or walking in my garden.
The first lesson that I want to share with you has to do with
continuity and connection. Flower gardens usually contain some
annuals and some perennials…Annuals, like petunias and marigolds
add a quick splash of color—but have to be reseeded or planted
each spring; Perennials are those plants that put down roots and
come back year after year after winter has passed.
I find that certain annuals have scattered seeds and many perennials
have put down roots in my heart. They have the power to evoke
the memories of loved ones who have passed on. For that reason I
plant them in my garden.
I can’t imagine starting a New England garden
and not having some lupine growing in it…because my mother
loved them so….and was especially proud of them in her garden in
Eastport, Maine. She was also fond of nasturtiums and
father regularly included some of them for her, in the annual beds. I
have both lupine and nasturtiums growing in my garden in
Gorham…for my mother. There is some version of immortality
planted with the lupine and nasturtiums. I remember her.
My Dad was a master gardener….and most of what I know about
gardening I learned by watching him. He was an expert on
compost…and I think long before the Green Movement...he
understood the spirituality of the compost pile and the importance of
giving back to the earth more than we take from it. There is
something very much like reincarnation in the compost
pile….whereby today’s coffee grounds and eggshells, transform into
rich loam and then are re- incarnated as roses or sun flowers or
perhaps a tomato seedling that volunteers in the bed where the
compost was spread.
Indeed as in a garden, nothing is lost and nothing is wasted….Life is
a circle and we all come round again in some form or another.
Dad’s specialty was herbs, and the fragrance of thyme, sage, mint,
basil and a host more.. all have the power to call him back
When I work in or walk in my garden I find myself in the company
of loved ones. In the same way household shrines welcome back
the spirits and the blessings of the family’s ancestors. For me plants,
have the power to evoke spirits who carry with them LOVE and
blessings from the past. I can feel it. And since I believe
“God Is Love”…. I am “closer to
God in my garden than anywhere else on earth.”
Another spiritual lesson I have learned or been reminded of while in
my garden…..has to do with balancing “vision” and “patience” .
When we moved to our new home in Maine….we drew up a
master plan for the garden, My partner , literally drew it with
a stick on the bare soil of our acre lot and we set out digging and
planting,watering and weeding….
We had some success…but by fall we joined with all gardeners
everywhere….sighing and saying “Wait till next year!”
And immediately before the last leaf of fall had been raked into a pile
we.began re-arranging, raising,
enriching, tearing out and re-placing much of the effort and many of
the mistakes of the first year. I am happy to report we are having
much more success this year.
The lesson I derive from this is a gardener’s version of a line from
my Universalist upbringing…. That line was from the “Avowal of
Faith”: which we used to recite on Sunday mornings.
“We believe in the power of people of good will and sacrificial
spirit to overcome all evil and to progressively establish the
kingdom of God.”
As a gardener I paraphrase that tenet of faith and say, “I believe
that with good intentions and a willingness to work hard and with
time….it is possible to over come poor drainage, weeds and insects
and unfavorable climatic conditions” and “bit by bit and row by row
make my garden grow”. …
The concept of “progressively establishing
the Kingdom of God” is a reminder that one summer does not a
garden make…If I live a long life….I know that on my last garden
walk I will still pull a weed and I will be still noting that I need to dig
and divide this clump, or try that sickly looking plant in another
spot where it gets more or less sun or where the drainage is better
The corrolary of this garden lesson is….We may not be able to
change the world; ease all suffering or right
each wrong….but we can attend to our little corner and
thru our work and effort make it better. So in my garden, in my
neighborhood, in my social circle. I can and should live out my
principles and values and be a positive
force and “let my little light
shine”.
Another lesson I derive from my garden I am going to call the
“Buddha Thing”. It has to do with accepting the imperfection and
impermanence of the physical world and recognizing that attachment
and holding on is the source of suffering.
The garden is a place of growth…but it is
also a place of death and decay. Slugs are busy devouring the
yellowing leaf from the eggplant that failed to thrive due to the wet
and the cold this year, and the display of irises that delight me today
will be gone next week and I will reluctantly dead head the flower
stalks and add them to the compost pile.
Also the perfection of the rose….is really less than perfect when you
try to find the perfect one for a special occasion. Some are just a bit
over blown and losing petals….there is
a Japanese beetle eating the heart out of this one and that one is
a bit oddly shaped.…from a distance it all looks so
lovely….but as Robert Frost reminds us…..”nothing gold can stay.”
It is indeed impermanent….and that is part of the beauty….Artificial
flowers are predictable and unchanging…..but oh my! the
horror of a garden of dead lifeless beauty….I will take my “work in
progress” of living, growing and dying and decaying…over any plastic
substitute.
There are other lessons and proofs of lessons available to me in the
garden. The one that appeals to the visionary mystic part of my
spiritual self.is the opportunity to work in tandem with the
underlying Life Force that surrounds us all. For indeed although I call
it my garden, I don’t really possess it and I don’t really “grow”
anything. At best I facilitate nature and work with her to create the
garden. The processes and miracles and mysteries…are beyond my
understanding. and really beyond my control. I am an apprentice to
the Life Force found in the soil, in water, in seeds and in sun light.
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote about that mystery in his poem, “Flower
in a Crannied Wall” I will close with his words.
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies;
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand.
Little flower…but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is."
Total Comments 11
Comments
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So lovely!Posted 07-16-2009 at 11:09 PM by moughie
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Wonderful, Elston! I know next to nothing about the Universalist beliefs, and what you have mentioned here seems to show such a beautiful view of life. Thank you for sharing.Posted 07-19-2009 at 09:08 AM by piperspal
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Beautifully said, elston!Posted 07-19-2009 at 11:54 AM by IOPbaby
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You have a real way with words, a true gift for conveying complex things in a beautiful and comprehensible way.
I am not and never have been a church-goer. But if the lessons offered in church were more like yours, Elston, chances are excellent that I'd start going.
Thank you for sharing your heart with us this way, my friend. Peace be with you.Posted 07-19-2009 at 10:43 PM by MidwesternBookWorm
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Thank you for reading my "blog" and I appreciate your kind comments. I so enjoyed thinking about this topic and writing and delivering it.
It was very well received by the congregation.
Posted 07-20-2009 at 05:40 AM by elston
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I had forgotten this poem...it's one of my favorites...and it is so true. 'M'Posted 07-28-2009 at 06:18 PM by 'M'
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This Sunday someone told me that when they told their mother about my sermon.....she went out and bought a blue hydrangea.....in memory of her mother...because she loved them so....and she wanted to invite her presence into her garden.
You know I love that.Posted 08-04-2009 at 04:15 PM by elston
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Elston - I too am a gardener and have been for a long time. Something tells me I'll be looking at my gardens a bit differently now.Posted 08-26-2009 at 09:43 PM by Umbria
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Elston-Beautiful! I'm going out today to plant a Gardenia for my Mom.Posted 09-29-2009 at 08:03 AM by Bella52
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Beautifully said!
My mom loved her garden & I often remember her joy as I see the plants she loved.Posted 07-26-2010 at 09:07 AM by Gue
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Thank you~I am moved! Special thanks for giving me the name of a poem that I have wished I could recall - the Tennyson poem. The very verse you quote had its grip on me once; reading it again, I am grateful to be reminded why.
But I am too sleepy to say "why" just now~ maureenPosted 08-07-2010 at 05:35 PM by maureenb
