FCC's Community Garden: Year End Report

Not exactly your Community Gardeners--but close enough!

The End of Year 2


Expert gardeners and landscapers say that it takes about 5 years for a garden to have that "wow!" effect on people who casually pass by. We haven't achieved 'wow' yet, but as we finish our 2nd year of community gardening we saw some beginning signs of it--and we have great hopes that by the end of next year (our 3rd year) we'll start hearing a few "Well, not too bad" assessments.

Like the Beverly Hillbillies above, some of the gardeners had a lot to learn about navigating through an entirely new culture. For example, they found out that Japanese beetles are not really insects but ugly assassins with superhuman powers that only laugh when even the most prodigious quantities of "organic" ivory soap and chewing tobacco are sprayed on them.

Yes, friends, while the gardeners remained true to their noble organic principles, they also failed to produce a single edible squash. On a positive note, some of the beetles developed a yen for Red Man Chewing Tobacco and experienced acute nicotine withdrawal when we stopped spraying them with it.

Not all was lost, however. One great learning was that spinach and lettuce can be grown very late in the season, as can snow peas. We hope that you enjoyed the bountiful greens--thanks to Kari Keever--that were provided after services this fall. Your gardeners also grew impressive numbers of tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, the dreaded okra, and yard long (inedible) cucumbers. These vegetable delights where framed by Jennifer Hudspeth's wonderful zinnia, coxcomb, and sunflower beds.

Final Harvest

A bale of Hyacinth beans

One notable garden victory was the beautiful and splendid hedge of hyacinth beans that graced the wire fence surrounding the garden. This marvellous vining plant produced a grand pallet of various shades of green all summer long and then, quite suddenly one July morning, became profusely decorated with three inch bean pods of an astonishing purple hue.

Interestingly, the Hyacinth bean is a plant from Southeast Asia--called dai van in Vietnamese--that is highly regarded as a soup and salad ingredient. We tested a few early in August--and then gorged ourselves because they are so delicious. The photo above is of a bale of the remaining hyacinth vines, replete with bean pods. We have made this 'final harvest' available to anyone who would like to gather beans for replanting at home this spring. Just visit the garden and pluck the pods off the bale. It will remain there until about Christmas and then will be composted.

Plans for Next Year

In January of this year (2010) the Church Board approved an expansion of the garden that, due to time and chance, was delayed until this fall. Yet, expand we will. This fall, trees were removed to open an area to the sunshine, post holes were dug, and materials and equipment donated by Hanby Lumber and Worely's Equipment rental were acquired to allow us to approximately double the amount of space available for production. Over the winter a fence will go up and raised beds will be put in place. We will probably plant a few more fruit trees as well.

This new space will be a 'Children's Garden' and, like all gardens, will take about 4 or 5 years to look like much. There is no expectation that the children will actually work in the garden~~although it would be wonderful if they did~~but we want to give them a place to pick flowers for their mothers, to decorate the church, and to gather vegetables for Loaves and Fishes if they are so inclined.

The garden's Godfather, Bill Hudspeth, will trench in a waterline sometime this winter so that the garden can have a separate water meter. It is important to the gardeners that the garden be at least 'budget neutral' and have no negative impact on our church's finances. Bill's dirt work will make this possible~~for which the gardeners heartily thank him! We may also put in a more sophisticated irrigation system to replace our current drip system.

Things We Need

If anyone can donate old 1 inch lumber that can be recycled into fence pickets, that would be a good thing. We will also appreciate donations of rail road ties, and of 2x8 inch treated or cedar boards suitable for raised bed construction.

We will also be grateful for the donation of fruit trees. Perhaps you would like to donate a tree in memory of a loved one?

Finally, we would LOVE to have more gardeners. If you would like to reserve a spot in the garden for the 2011 growing year~~and have 3 or 4 hours a week during the growing season to spend minding it~~we will be EXCITED to have you participate. Please let us know and we'll reserve you a spot.

Thank You!

Your Community Gardeners are mindful of the gift of land and resources that the Board, Elders, and Members of the First Christian Church have given them. Please know that we are grateful and promise to be good stewards of the gift that you have given us. Thank you, so much.

Christmas Play: "A Mouse's Tale"

Good News Of Great Joy Sermon

Sermon by Judy Turner
Luke 2:8-15

WE ALL WANT JOY
I’m going to start with a statement that I don’t think anybody will disagree with: we all want to be happy. We all want that inner state of well-being, with accompanying feelings of pleasure and delight, good fortune, blessing. Particularly at this time of the year, we want to be happy. If you asked people what their ultimate goal in life is, they might say, “To be happy.”

GOD IS JOY AND WANTS US TO BE JOYFUL
But I believe that even more than happiness, we want joy. Joy is that inner sense of well-being and gladness that is not dependent on what’s going on around us, or on our circumstances, but is the gift of God that nobody can take away from us and nothing can diminish. The source of joy is God. We were created in the image of God, to share Godness. God is joy, and wants his human children to share his great gladness. In fact, He commands it. Just start looking through the Bible for joy, and you see in both the Old and New Testaments an astonishing number of references to delight, joy, bliss, exultation, merry-making and rejoicing. So, joy is a characteristic of the life of a child of God, flowing from God into us who are made in His image. In Galatians 5, joy is included as part of the fruit of the Spirit- something that should grow out of our life, just as clearly as apples grow on the apple tree.

CULTIVATING JOY
But those apples require some cultivation. One of the real estate ads that caught my eye describing the property that became the Christview Ministries Center where John and I have the privilege of living, was “variety of fruit trees”. Oh, I had visions of our own cherries and pears and apples we could pick right off the tree. What were those little hard, green wormy things that appeared on the tree that first fall? I talked with a man who has an apple orchard. He told me what you have to do to cultivate apples: all the pruning and spraying and fertilizing. My eyes started glazing over as I realized I was not going to do the work to help the tree produce the apples. I would just buy them- locally if at all possible!

WHAT LUKE’S STORY OF THE ANGELS AND SHEPHERDS TELLS US ABOUT JOY
So, the Bible indicates that joy is a gift, part of God’s own nature shared with us, what grows in us as we continually make choices to cooperate with God. Let’s explore what the story in Luke 2 of the angels and the shepherds tells us about joy as God’s gift and what we do to cultivate it.
Luke 2:8-9
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.

JOY IS BEING CAUGHT UP IN THE BIGNESS OF WHAT GOD IS DOING
One of the things I love about this story is that it is about ordinary people going about their daily lives, when suddenly they are caught up in something huge! The best thing I’ve seen sent over the internet in a long time is a video of what happened Saturday Oct. 30 at the Center City Shopping Mall in Philadelphia. The video starts with shoppers in Macy’s, looking at the clothes on the racks, handling the merchandise, making their purchases. They are completely unaware that something big and unexpected is about to happen. 650 singers from the Philadelphia Opera Co. and numerous choirs of the city are stationing themselves at various places in the store and on the balconies at the center of the mall. Then at noon, there is the sound of an organ, and all the singers burst into singing the Hallelujah Chorus. The video shows people looking up, startled, stopping what they’re doing, looking around, puzzled looks turning to smiles of amazement. Some shoppers start joining in the song, whether they know the words are not, some people pull out their cell phones to capture the moment in pictures, children are lifted to the shoulders of their parents to get a better view of what is going on. When the final “Hallelujah” sounds, people burst into applause that lasts very long time. People just stand there, like nobody wants it to be over. The video pans to one of the organizers on the balcony holding up a sign, “You’ve just experienced a Random Act of Culture”. I thought, “No, it’s more than that. It’s more like, “You’ve just been caught up in a moment of holy joy.”
The spiritual writer Stephen Mitchell once described a holy joy as “so large that it is no longer inside of you, but you are inside of it.” That’s the feeling we get with the shepherds in the fields, suddenly caught up in this huge joy. The curtain that usually separates the seen material world from the unseen spiritual realm was lifted. And mortals were able to see and hear the angels rejoicing all around them. It was radiant, terrible in the most beautiful way, a Huge Holy joy they were inside of. That was the gift part of the joy. The Greek word for the good news of great joy the angel announced is “chara” (Khar-ah’) which comes from the Greek word “charis”, grace. Just out of His loving goodness and the overflowing muchness of His being, God gives humans the opportunity to share in His joy, not because we deserve it, but because that’s the way God is.
THE CHOICES WE MAKE TO RECEIVE JOY
But the shepherds have to make some choices to be part of God’s joy. By their choices they receive and cultivate this great gift of God’s own joy.
Luke 2: 9b-10 And they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

DON’T GIVE IN TO THE JOY-BLOCKERS. ASK GOD TO BE IN CONTROL.
The angel tells them, “Don’t be afraid.” Of course, they feel afraid, terrified, like they want to run and hide. But the choice is not to let feelings of fear control them. Let God be in control. There are some joy-blockers. Fear and anxiety are big joy-blockers. If we want to experience more joy in our lives, I suggest we adopt a zero tolerance policy toward the joy-blockers in our lives. Maybe you can’t help feelings of anxiety. But are they going to limit your life, control what you do and don’t do, or are you going to choose not to give in to fear, but instead surrender to God? “God, I’m feeling afraid, but I don’t want to be controlled by fear. I surrender my fear to you and ask for deeper trust in you.” We don’t like to admit how totally dependent we are on God for everything. We’d sometimes rather hang on to our anxiety and our small, scared lives, and our misery than give up control and ask God for the trust we need. What do you need to live in the big Joy of the Lord? Ask for it. If you don’t have much joy in your life, don’t settle for such a weak, shriveled life. Ask for the joy of the Lord, which the scripture says, is our strength.

SAY “YES” TO GOD’S INVITATION AND SEE FOR YOURSELF
Then, the angels invite the shepherds to go see for themselves.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
They angels give directions (perhaps not as detailed as Mapquest, but more accurate) by pointing the shepherds to Bethlehem and they will know they have found the right baby when they see him wrapped in cloths and lying in a feeding trough for animals. This is the One, the baby who is God with us, Christ the Lord.
Now, at this point, the shepherds have a choice. It’s a kind of a risky, silly thing to do to go wandering around Bethlehem looking for this baby. They could convince each other this was just a wild dream, just go back to sleep and promise each other they would never say a word about this to anybody. After all, people might question their sanity if they followed up on this. But they chose to risk it, to see for themselves.
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

GOD IS INVITING EACH OF US TO JOY
God is always inviting each of us to see for ourselves, to experience in our own lives who He is and what He is doing. How is God inviting you this morning? Maybe you’re not even sure God is real. Are you willing to find out? Are you willing to start talking to God and holding out the possibility that God might communicate with you, start reading the Bible, start hanging out regularly with Christians?
Maybe you know God is real, but He is remote. He hasn’t come close and personal. You don’t see Him doing anything in your world. Are you willing to see for yourself? Are you simply willing to pray each morning, “God, open my eyes, I want to see what you’re doing all around me.”
But even if you see God at work around you, you don’t fully experience the joy until you ask to be part of what God is doing. “God, I don’t want to just be a spectator. I want to be a player on your team and join you on the field. I want to serve you every day.” Maybe there is some particular step God has been inviting you to take: from forgiving someone to taking a new direction in your life. Whatever the invitation, saying “yes” to God brings joy. Because God’s desire for you is also your deepest joy.

THE FULFILLMENT OF OUR LITTLE LIVES IN GOD’S GREAT WORK
The stories Luke tells us in Chapters 1 and 2 are about ordinary people caught up inside this big cosmic thing God is doing. But they have the choice whether they will say “yes” and take part in God’s redemption of the world. When they say “yes”, not only are they inside God’s Great Cosmic Joy, but their little individual lives are fulfilled as well. Both the Big Story of the salvation of the world, and the smaller human stories of Zechariah and Elizabeth and Mary and a bunch of shepherds matter to God. Zechariah and Elizabeth, the old, childless couple who have prayed for years, now miraculously have a child. Mary, a young person, really wanting her life to count, now finds a purpose for her life far beyond anything she could imagine. Shepherds, nobodies, stuck on the hillside with sheep night after night, longing for significance, something more, now become part of the Adventure of the Ages.
It just may be that the fulfillment of your heart’s truest desires and your deepest longings for joy are just beyond that step of saying “yes” to God. Are you willing to see for yourself?

Special Outreach Christmas Service

“SERVICE OF THE LONGEST NIGHT”

First Christian Church is sponsoring a worship service on Tuesday evening, Dec. 21, 7:00-8:00 PM for people in our community who are struggling and hurting and not having a "merry" Christmas. For some, the memories of beloved family members who have died brings pain at this time of year. For others the sadness of divorce or broken relationships brings anguish to this season. For many, the anxious insecurity of unemployment or the menacing cloud of poor health darken this Christmas.
For those who have empty places in their hearts and homes, we are offering a worship service on the longest, darkest night of the year, Dec. 21st. This informal Christmas worship service will be an opportunity to acknowledge sadness, grief, struggle, and to know that you are not alone.
No need to dress up, just come as you are and receive the strengthening words of hope from Scripture and from the community of faith. We will be reminded of the Christ child who comes into our dark and troubled world to bring light and hope.

If you have questions, contact Judy Turner, 479-253-5865