Good Soil

We are the Gardeners: Good Soil

On Sunday, I spoke about “making a place” – what does it mean to “make a place.” Just to jog or memory or for the first time - 

Let me explain.

A place is – an area, a building, a city or town or village, or house. Right? 

A school, a dorm room, an office.

How do you “make a place?”

Throughout Lent, I read a book called Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peaceby Christie Purifoy. In this book, Purifoy walks us through the beginning of her married life to now. They moved numerous times during those years and she learned about how to “make a place.”

She writes, “If peace is a state of harmony, if it is a kind of wholeness or completeness, then peaceful places are spacious places where our whole selves can abide. They are places with room enough for our joys and our sorrows, room enough for our neighbors and all those in need of comfort, rest, and renewal.

What is placemaking? It is deliberately sending your roots deep into a place, like a tree. It means allowing yourself to be nourished by a place even as you shape it for the better.” 

So, when you “make a place” – you plant there, you send your roots deep into the place. You allow yourself to be nourished there.

I’m still stuck on this idea of “place” and how one can be nourished there.

I’m sure you noticed our amazing garden boxes outside! How could you not? A boy scout named Sam Baker led the charge to fundraise for the supplies, gather the kids and give marching orders on Saturday. They turned out beautifully. Now I’m a little freaked that NOW we need to ACTUALLY fill them!

WE DO have a master gardener, Amy Astrom, who came to the rescue! Amy is in charge of filling the beds with baby veggies that will grow to feed not only us this summer but hopefully support East Colfax Food Bank and Colfax Community Network.

Over the next five weeks, our kids will work with Ms Amy to prepare our garden and help plant it! It will be so neat to watch it over the summer to see it grow.

Clearly my mind is ON the garden:

preparing for it – 

Amanda, Sarah and I met with Sam a few times and shared several emails about how the boxes would look and where they would go; 

talked with Liz Rutledge from Sustainable Three to get the soil; 

got Mark Thrush to come in with his son, Will, and work on the sprinkler system so our veggies get the right amount of water – they were here for hours on Saturday;

and dreamt withAmy on what we would plant!

Once all of that is in place – we CAN plant our garden on May 23!

I do not have a green thumb although I do love plants. 

I grew up with a spathidulim in the house and we couldn’t kill that thing. 

So in my early adult years, I had one of those that survived. 

Now – we have a cool plant from Sarah’s house that took a month or so to get used to us, but now she likes us and is growing well.

At our house, we’ve tried tomatoes and herbs, but they always fried in our backyard. So, we haven’t done that in years.

I love the symbolism of a garden though. 

There are four gardens in the bible: 

The Garden of Eden, The Garden of Gethsemane, The Garden where Jesus is buried and then seen in the flesh on Easter, and finally a Garden in Revelation which is heaven on Earth.

So, here we have a garden, well, the beginnings of one. It’s exciting.

I’ve learned so much already and the plants aren’t even in the ground yet.

A few weeks ago, I bought a children’s book by Joanna Gaines – the Magnolia, Fixer Upper lady and her kids. It's called We are the Gardeners. It’s about the planting and growing of their awesome garden.

I will mention it in the next few weeks, as we prepare and plant ours.

Here are a few things I learned from the book:

1)The garden needs sun to grow.

2)The garden needs good soil to grow.

3)The garden needs water to grow.

4)The garden needs seeds to grow.

Yes, I know – I knew it needed sun, but not too much sun; water, but not too much water and obviously seeds.

What I didn’t know is the part about “good soil.” Maybe you know this, but it was news to me.

There’s a neat website called www.good-dirt.com written by a couple in Raleigh, NC. It says, “When you look at the soil, it may seem like lifeless dirt and rocks, but in fact it is very much alive.

Millions of small organisms live in healthy soil which is rich in organic matter. Some of them are big enough to see, such as earthworms and small insects. But, most of them are so small that you can only see them if you use a microscope. These microscopic organisms include nematodes (tiny worms), bacteria, fungi and even some insects which are invisible to the naked eye. These living organisms make soil alive and give it a good structure and texture. A living soil ecosystem nurtures and nourishes plants by providing a healthy medium to take roots and through a steady supply of nutrients.”

That got me thinking about the Parable of the Sower. 

Here’s a little different version: 

He said many things to them in parables: “A farmer went out to scatter seed. As he was scattering seed, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate it. 

Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it scorched the plants, and they dried up because they had no roots. 

Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorny plants grew and choked them. 

Other seed fell on good soil and bore fruit, in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one. Everyone who has ears should pay attention.”

Then there is an explanation: 

“Consider then the parable of the farmer. Whenever people hear the word about the kingdom and don’t understand it, the evil one comes and carries off what was planted in their hearts. This is the seed that was sown on the path. 

As for the seed that was spread on rocky ground, this refers to people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully. Because they have no roots, they last for only a little while. When they experience distress or abuse because of the word, they immediately fall away. 

As for the seed that was spread among thorny plants, this refers to those who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the false appeal of wealth choke the word, and it bears no fruit. 

As for what was planted on good soil, this refers to those who hear and understand, and bear fruit and produce—in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one.”

In Joanna Gaines’ book it says, “The thing about seeds is that they’re everyday miracles. Everything a plant will grow up to be is already hidden inside the seed.” Isn’t that profound?!?

Everything you will grow up to be or have grown up to be was already hidden inside you as an infant.

BUT what does a seed need to grow – sun, water, and good soil.

I think we are both the seed and the dirt/path/or soil.

Let me explain.

The common understanding of this passage in Matthew is that Jesus is spreading seeds of faith and seeds of knowledge of the kingdom of God – which is here, but not fully – the fullness comes in heaven.

So, the passage is saying, God’s words fall on people who don’t want to hear it and the words/seeds die.

God’s words fall on some people who are excited to hear them but don’t learn to rely on them and the seeds eventually die.

God’s words fall on those hurt by life who aren’t able to take in the love of God and those seeds die.

Then God’s words fall on a person or persons who are yearning to hear God’s news of love, forgiveness and eternal life and those people – that soil soaks in the seeds of faith and grows and grows.

There are more ways to read this passage including – if YOU are the sower spreading God’s word, do you need to worry about where you throw the seed or should you just share the good news of Christ and it takes root where it takes root?

I want to go back to the “sense of place”, the “making of a place” and go the direction of – us as the seeds and not the soil.

Remember: “If peace is a state of harmony, if it is a kind of wholeness or completeness, then peaceful places are spacious places where our whole selves can abide. They are places with room enough for our joys and our sorrows, room enough for our neighbors and all those in need of comfort, rest, and renewal.

What is placemaking? It is deliberately sending your roots deep into a place, like a tree. It means allowing yourself to be nourished by a place even as you shape it for the better.”

If we are the seeds – we have everything already in us to grow into who God has created us to be, then we just need good soil with lots of bugs and things to help us grow. Right?

Good soil at home, at church, and in yourselves.

Let’s briefly look at these:

Good Soil at home – ASK THE QUESTION
Create a place of peace.
Eat good food and not junk food (talking to myself here.)
Listen to more music and less news and other things on television.
Walk more with your family.
Sit on your porch if you have one and take in nature.
Laugh with friends in your home – share your table with them whether it’s a tiny table or one for a banquet hall! 

Pray at meals thanking God and pray when you wake and before you sleep.
Be kind to those in your home, even when they aren’t to you.
But also – don’t let yourself be abused verbally or any other way.

Good Soil at church – ASK THE QUESTION
Loving, kind atmosphere where you connect with church friends and the kids!
Where you care about one another and catch up.
Where you sing wholeheartedly and pray sincerely.
Where you hear a message planned with you in mind that makes you think and recharges you for the week – basically adds more good worms to your soil!
Where you eat wonderful, nourishing food and not just donuts ;)
Where you don’t feel judged for who you are, where you come from, what you look like, what your political positions are (I’ve got to work on that one.)
Where YOU ARE LOVED.

Good Soil in yourself – ASK THE QUESTION
It is so important to speak kind words to yourself.
To love yourself.
To know the good things about you and REMEMBER those when society is pushing you to remember all the things you’re not good at or capable of.
To remember that YOU are a CHILD of GOD. Take that in for a sec.
You are a Child of God. God loved YOU so much that he gave his son so that YOU could have everlasting life.
If there is good soil around you, but your immediate dirt is dead – how will you grow?

In the book, We are the Gardeners, the kids write, “Dad always says that the foundation is the most important thing when it comes to building a house. A house can’t be strong if it’s built on something weak, and the same holds true in a garden. SO to make the foundation of our garden strong, we filled it with…soil…That’s pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. A whole hidden world of life is happening beneath our feet. Just because you can’t see the good things with your eyes doesn’t mean they’re not there! And another cool thing about soil is that it feeds and strengthens the seeds we sow, and then, LIKE A MIRACLE, plants and flowers burst out of the ground!”

Out of the mouths of babes and their mama.

Just because you can’t “see” with your sees the good soil around you or NEEDED around you, doesn’t mean it isn’t here beneath you.

I want your relationship with God to grow so big and so deep that NOTHING can shake that faith. These are ways to help us grow and bear fruit (which we’ll talk about in the weeks to come.)

Amen

Sense of Place

SENSE OF PLACE - Easter Sunday - Be3 UMC

John 20:1-18

I want to back up to the scripture in John right before the Resurrection Scripture. It’s the end of chapter 19, where Jesus has died. 

It says, “After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. 

Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 

Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”

Like families did for a few thousand years, these gentlemen (and in other scripture there are women too) they lovingly prepare the body – they wash him, wrap him in linen burial cloth, and anoint him with oils and spices. This was the way people mourned. Then they “buried” him in the tomb and sealed it with a large stone. THIS place was made sacred in the preparation and burying of Jesus’ body by his friends.

When we bury our loved ones in cemeteries or in a columbarium, we are able to go back and visit them – place flowers at their grave, clear away the weeds from the stone, place a small stone or memento there. With these actions, we “make” a place. 

What do I mean by “make a place?” Let me explain.

A place is – an area, a building, a city or town or village, or house. Right? A school, a dorm room, an office.

How do you “make a place?”

Throughout Lent, I read a book called Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace by Christie Purifoy. In this book, Purifoy walks us through the beginning of her married life to now. They moved numerous times during those years and she learned about how to “make a place.”

She writes, “If peace is a state of harmony, if it is a kind of wholeness or completeness, then peaceful places are spacious places where our whole selves can abide. They are places with room enough for our joys and our sorrows, room enough for our neighbors and all those in need of comfort, rest, and renewal.

What is placemaking? It is deliberately sending your roots deep into a place, like a tree. It means allowing yourself to be nourished by a place even as you shape it for the better.” 

So, when you “make a place” – you plant there, you send your roots deep into the place. You allow yourself to be nourished there.

For Joseph, Nicodemus and the Marys and the other disciples – this burial place was “made sacred, made holy.” This is the place their friend and Lord was laid to rest. It isn’t a happy place, but it is a meaningful place of rest.

NOW – to our scripture for today.

Mary Magdalene, a disciple and close friend of Jesus’ goes EARLY in the morning while it’s still dark to the tomb AND…the large stone has been moved. SHE FREAKS – run to Peter and John thinking someone has stolen Jesus’ body. SOMEONE has defiled their holy place they made for Jesus!

A place can be “unmade” as a place can be “made.” When there is violence in a home or a battle on a farmer’s field – it is defiled and unmade. THIS is what they thought had happened here. Purifoy writes, “We were confronted by some of the ways in which humans unmake a place.”

John bends down and sees the linen wrappings/cloth on the floor, but doesn’t go in.

Peter goes into the tomb. He sees the cloth that was wrapped about Jesus’ body AND his head. The head cloth is folded nicely in place. WOW. Such suspense. 

As Mary is bent over weeping, she sees two angels in while sitting where Jesus’ body had been. “They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 

JESUS SAYS to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Teacher!’ 

She thinks the burial place has been ruined and Jesus has been stolen – only to turn and see Jesus when he calls her name.

IT IS SOOOOO DRAMATIC! and SWEET.

BUT THEN - 

“Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Don’t hold on to me because I haven’t ascended to the Father. So, he’s not staying. We have the place where he was baptized and the place where he fed the 5,000 and the place where had the Last Supper, and then the Garden of Gethsemane, and then Calvary where he died and then the garden with the tomb. In fact, thousands probably millions of people travel, pilgrimage to Israel to see these holy places. Jesus is no longer there either though.

So – where do we “make a place” for Jesus NOW? 

I have a few suggestions:

God longs for the place he has chosen as a dwelling for his name. 

God’s longing “weaves in and out and through the whole story the Bible tells.” 

“First there was a garden. Then there was great land. There was a tribe, a tent, an ark, a temple. There was a city, a Son, and a church", writes Purifoy.

“Today, there is me. Today, there is you. So many homes God has had, and to each one of us, he says, “I am knocking. Please let me in. You ARE my home. I am YOUR home. Remain in me.” But remaining is not such an easy thing to do. To remain requires a stillness and a steadfastness in spite of the many things that will make us want to pick up and run." 

1) God longs for a place IN US! In 50 days, we will celebrate Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes down and comes into the hearts of the those in the 1^stcentury and then for us – when we are born – the Holy Spirit is IN US. Will we “make a place” for it to dwell and grow and flourish? Do we pray daily, attend worship with others, love our friends AND enemies? Do we trust in God and follow him?

2) God longs for a place IN OUR CHURCH! Jesus said, whenever two or three people are together in my name, I am there with them. When we gather each Thursday night in God’s name, WE are “making a place” for God to dwell. When we love and support one another, we have “made this a place” for God to dwell. When we plant our roots down deep – WE allow yourselves to be nourished by a place even as we shape it for the better.

3) God longs for a place IN OUR COMMUNITY! How do we share this peace we find in Jesus? 

Purifoy writes, “If home at its best offers deep and abiding peace, then perhaps we are most aware of that gift, with its sense of wholeness and completeness, when we are seated with friends in the shade of a tree. 

‘In that day, ‘the Lord had said, ‘each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree.’ 

We may still be waiting for the perfection of ‘that day,’ but we prepare for its coming and taste its arrival when we share the places we are making with others or when we receive hospitality others offer to us.”

On Friday, a friend told me about The Turquoise Table and I think it’s something we could do in our front yard – we kind of already are with our garden boxes and our seating on the porch, but this is cool and it is a movement that “makes a place” for us to be neighborly – be loving and caring – how God wants us to be and do in this place.

Kristin Schell says, “Opening up our lives to others can seem scary, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be as simple as painting an ordinary picnic table turquoise and placing it in your front yard. It sounds so simple, it’s ridiculous. 

In fact, that’s just what I thought when I painted my picnic table bright turquoise (Sherwin-Williams Nifty Turquoise, if you’re wondering) and placed it under a magnolia tree, close to the edge our lively street.

That very day, life in our neighborhood and my life changed in meaningful ways. All because of The Turquoise Table.

The Turquoise Table has become a meeting place—kind of like the old village well—for neighbors, friends, and even strangers, to hang out and do life together. The table has spurred a front yard revival in our neighborhood and had become a welcome place to gather and love. We call ourselves Front Yard People.

As it turns out, turquoise tables are popping up all over the place – even as far away as Uganda. We’ve got an encouraging community of people—just like you—who are looking for simple ways to create community right right where they live. Wanna make a difference in your community—join us!”

 So – on this Resurrection Sunday when we celebrate that Jesus is NOT on that cross and he is NOT in that tomb, on Resurrection Sunday – he was walking around saying, “tell others that you have seen the Lord.” – I’M BACK! Death did not have the final word and it doesn’t for us either.

But celebrating the Resurrection isn’t enough. An opportunity presents itself when Jesus leaves that tomb. An opportunity to make his home, his place elsewhere. Is it in you? Will it be in you?

That’s the true miracle of the Resurrection – that God lives on IN US – he makes his place IN US.

The Making of a Place

The Making of a Place – Rev. Lauren Boyd

In 1942, a small group of Methodists felt called to start a worshipping community in the Montclair neighborhood of East Denver. They planted seeds in this neighborhood and grew. In 1948, they dedicated their building at the corner of 12^thand Newport as the home of Montclair Methodist Church. As the neighborhood grew, so did the church community until they needed more space and built a new sanctuary and fellowship hall. They dedicated this addition in 1960. The 60s were the heyday of this community. There were over 500 people worshipping on a Sunday morning and no doubt attending classes during the week with the famous Wednesday night suppers and beloved Pixie Preschool where neighborhood children were raised.

As much as a place can be made by the people and buildings we place on it, it can be unmade. The last thirty odd years, the church community began to decline. As the building aged, so did the congregation. In the last decade or more, many of the neighbors didn’t know it was a Methodist church any longer, only seeing the Hispanic Seventh Day Adventist congregation come and go multiple times throughout the week. The bushes grew over the lampposts and the one sign that had the church’s name on it. The place, the congregation, the church building was forgotten by the community.

Before we started Be3 United Methodist Dinner Church, we talked and dreamt of a shiny new place in the desirable Stapleton neighborhood – where we could have a storefront and could encounter all the neighbors in that area. Some new churches don’t have a physical building. They pay rent, but don’t have the overhead of a large church. We didn’t want the overhead, but we did want a place for people to know that was always their church – their safe haven. The pull of the historic mid-century mod church at 12^th and Newport continued to call to us. We asked the conference if we could begin a new worshipping community in this place that had been unmade – could we remake a place? We were given the approval, but it was a doubtful one. Not many thought rehabbing this place would be fruitful.

The place itself had been cared for, but not updated since the addition in 1960. There was so much to do to bring it back to life. As we birthed a new worshipping community, we attempted to resuscitate the old building wondering if maybe we should have just moved into a shiny new place in Stapleton. We stayed put though, feeling the history of the place and the people who filled it and the neighborhood that found its heart in it. As we clean out old rooms, pull out well-used shag carpet, we invite the new and old neighbors into this once forgotten place. As they walk through we hear stories from the old neighbors and how magical the place is to the new ones.

God called us to this place for this time. God called us to plant seeds and roots and see what will grow as this place is remade once again into a community hub for East Denver. Be3 has 17 members and 25 attendees on an average Thursday night. Be3 has 10-15 children who would rather be at church than almost anywhere else. Some of them say, “I was having a rough day, but then I remembered Be3 is tomorrow and I felt so much better.” We have young families from Stapleton and Park Hill. We have several folks from the Montclair neighborhood. We have a few beloveds who drive a long way to be a part of this community. We tell everyone who will listen about Be3 and how awesome the food and the community are. We hope and pray it will continue to grow in numbers as it is growing the hearts and souls of its current attenders.

As we searched and questioned how to make/remake a place that would support the community and be what God called it and us to be, we created something new inside of something old. We call this community hub Newport Street Retreat as it houses Be3 UMC worshipping community, mico-businesses that are doing good things in our community, coworkers who are looking for community instead of the isolation of their homes or coffee shops, yoga practitioners who seek balance in their lives, local events and workshops, four beehives for tons of bees, a soon to be garden for food to be tended and grow for Be3 as well as neighbors and those in need all the while being the community that God is calling us to be now!

God is calling us to reach out beyond the Methodist circles of people interested and willing to attend a weekly worship service and a unique one at that, to reach out to those who are the Nones and the Dones and Catholics and Jewish and Hindu and Muslim. This place is being remade as a place for everyone who is seeking goodness to come be a part. Our sign out front says, “Good Humans Welcome.” If you are a good human, wanting to do good things in the world, we are the place to be. We are making a place for God’s people to plant and grow and flourish, to try and fail and rework and regroup and feel loved and supported all the while. We hope some will feel a pull to come be a part of our worshipping community. We know not all will and that is ok. We will continue to love and minister to each and every one of them knowing that God is a part of all of it!

God made this earth for all of us. We are called now to make a place for God to dwell in our lives and in our souls. We are called to make a place "where peace can dwell. With God's help, we can pick up the pieces of an old and dying world, and we can make them new. We can make places where beauty and peace can take root, flourish, and grow." (quote by Christie Purifoy) It's so scary to plant and water and tend and not know what if anything will grow. We have been planting for two years and continue to plant and tend. We invite you to be a part of of it - to make this place yours too.

Come bring your laptop and sit at a dinner table in our sanctuary. Come sit in our cafe area and have something to eat. Come take a yoga class and then sit and chat with me for longer than you intended. Come help us plant our garden boxes and tend them - get your hands in the dirt. I hear it's good for us. Come be nourished. Come be well fed.