Garden of Grace

One of my favorite things about the house we are renting is the garden.

Over the late spring and early summer, I have watched with delight as our yard has slowly come to life. There are echinacea and daisies, roses and hollyhocks, and several other flowers that I cannot identify at all. As the flowers have bloomed, the yard has filled with butterflies and bumblebees. A family of neighborhood bunnies has even made a home in the bushes.

I love walking outside in the morning and discovering what has bloomed overnight.

Rachel, who is far more astute about gardening than I am, pointed out something else about our yard. If you pay attention, you can see the visions of several previous renters who have lived in the house before us. Over the years, different people have added different plants to the garden. Some are carefully plotted and arranged. Others have slowly spread beyond wherever they were originally planted, appearing in unexpected corners of the yard.

We inherited a garden that many people have helped create.

I have been thinking about how much that garden reminds me of Grace.

As I continue to settle into my new home here, I am increasingly grateful for all the gardeners who came before me. For generations, faithful people have planted seeds of worship, faith formation, mission, fellowship, and community. They have cultivated ministries, watered new ideas, and nurtured seeds of faith in children, youth, and adults.

Today, we are blessed by the beauty and abundance of what they planted.

Many of the flowers in our yard are perennials. Year after year, they return. They bloom, drop their seeds, and slowly spread into new parts of the garden. Sometimes new flowers appear in places no one planned or expected.

I think the same is true of the church. The ministries and missions of Grace continue to produce seeds of faith and grace. A child learns that they are loved by God. A teenager discovers a place where they belong. A hungry neighbor receives food. A stranger is welcomed. Someone finds comfort in worship. A volunteer discovers a new calling. Seeds are scattered. And by the grace of God, they take root and grow, often in places we may never see.

I am grateful for the garden of grace that I have discovered here at Grace. I am grateful for those who planted before us, for those who have faithfully tended this community through the years, and for the opportunity we now have to work together.

There are still seeds to scatter. There is still soil to cultivate. There is still new life waiting to emerge. And I cannot wait to see what God grows next.

See you in church.

Peace, Grace, and Love,

Pastor Kevin