Cool Things about Aloe Plants

Over the past couple of months, I’ve developed a new appreciation for Aloe Vera.   I remember having an Aloe plant growing up, thinking it was very neat to have a plant in the house that could soothe the burns and scrapes I got.  It was, as it is for so many of us, foreign to me that medicines have their origins in plants.  But recently, I have grown to have a new appreciation for Aloe Vera, and it has to do with Stewardship.

Our theme for our Desert Foothills UMC fall pledge campaign this year was “Garden of Generosity”, and as we were trying to think of how to bring this theme to life in our congregation, we started to talk about having live plants for everyone.  Then some practical things came to mind – where would we get lots of plants, how would it work if we gave away plants and those who are have less of a green thumb found that theirs died all too quickly, what would the point be, exactly?   Then, one of the stewardship committee members shared that he had a bunch of aloe pups that had sprung up over the past year or so, and he thought that maybe he had 60ish plants he’d be happy to harvest and share with the church.  It ended up that he had about 150, of various sizes, all of which came from just 5 aloe plants, which he planted in his back yard a little more than a year ago, after they had been kept in their original, from the plant shop buckets, ignored for months before.

The Trouble with Sharing

When I was a pastoral intern in Elon, NC, and so many of the church members had gardens, I was so impressed with how much everyone shared with everyone else.  Every Sunday (and many days in between) there was an exchange that took place.  Someone had squash come in and there was more than they knew what to do with, so they brought a few sacksful to share.  Someone else brought okra.  Someone else brought tomatoes.  One person grew flowers in her garden and arranged them for the altar each week.  Seeds were exchanged, canned goods were traded.  How lovely!

Sharing seems so easy there, in that world of abundance, where the soil is rich, the crops a bit of a luxury.  Gardening is a normal part of life for the people of that community, but none of them absolutely depended on the food they grew, nor did their livelihoods depend on the sale of their produce.  Why is it so hard in so many other aspects of life?

Desert Gardening

Flower and Insect at the Redemptorist Retreat Center, Tucson, AZ

I’m writing from the Arizona Five-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation, in Tucson, AZ.  Serendipitously, our theme here is focusing on the journey of a seed as it eventually becomes part of a garden. We are talking a lot about the Desert Christians, the Christians who retreated into the deserts of Egypt and Syria and other parts of the Middle East beginning in the 4th century.  They went to the desert for many reasons, but one of them was that people found that in the stark emptiness of the desert, where there is no place to hide, illusions can be stripped away.  In the desert, we discover that we are finite creatures, who have bodily needs.  In the desert, we discover that we can’t control other people or the circumstances of life.  In the desert, we have the opportunity to realize the ways that we think and act like we are God, rather than letting God be God.

The Seed that is Me

I like the idea that I’m a seed. 

First, I think seeds are fascinating – so small compared to the plant it becomes, seemingly dead, yet full of potential life.  They are a mysterious treasure, as it’s not at all obvious that a seed will become the thing it will grow into just by looking at the seed.  They are so simple, yet so complex.  They have a life of their own as nature takes it course on it’s own a great deal of the time.  Yet, on the other hand, they need tending, nurturing, intentionality.  And even with that intentionality, sometimes they don’t meet their potential.  Yet sometimes, despite our best efforts to thwart their growth, they spring up mightily all the same.

Me? A Gardener?

Organic Farm in Jamaica

I cannot claim to have a green thumb.  Indeed I have led many plants to their demise.  Yet, I have aspirations of one day being a gardener.  In fact, planting a small garden is on near the top of a very long list of things I want to learn.  My track record with plants, alongside the particularities of trying to garden in the desert are rather intimidating to me.  But I have this experience of gardens which continues to be so inspiring to me, that the desire to try it out keeps nudging me in that direction.

Open…

During Lent, I’m working with the concept of generosity (particularly financial generosity) with the Desert Foothills UMC congregation.  As I’ve tried to come up with an image for generosity, it occurred to me that the journey toward generosity is also a journey to greater openness.

Generosity is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22 NRSV), and to bear this fruit and the others named in this passage, requires an openness to the Holy Spirit.  Openness to the Spirit makes space in us for these fruit to take root and blossom and emerge in our daily lives.

Generosity also seems to stem from other sorts of openness as well.  We open our hands to let go of our firm grasp on our stuff and offer what we have to others.  We open our hearts to the needs of others in the world.  We open our minds as we think of our own needs, money, the organization of our lives and habits differently.  We open our arms to different sorts of relationships with others, because really generosity is an expression of love and relationship.  We open our lives as we more firmly put our trust in God and relinquish control over every bit of our lives ans security.  And ultimately, generosity opens doors and possibilities that simply can’t be realized without people’s willingness to share, to open themselves to be available for others and the work of God in the world.

Lent in general is about making the path between us and God open again, removing the blocks and barricades and obstacles from the path. We work on those places in our lives that are inaccessible to God and others, and allow God to unbind them, so that they might be exposed to God’s grace and transformation, so that the places that are dead might experience resurrection!

What areas of your life need to be opened for generosity to spring forth?  What other images of generosity strike you?

Thoughts of Saguaros on Ash Wednesday

I have found, on my hikes through the desert, that I am particularly drawn to dead and dying saguaros.  I can spend a very long time examining, taking photos, contemplating the reality that this once great, stately, ancient thing, is now bones and decomposing skin.  This that used to be a home, a source of food, a magnificent presence, is now that in a different form.

Thoughts? Concerns? Worries? Fears?

On Sunday, I told you I wanted to know what you think about day to day.  What fills your thoughts, takes up your energy and time?  I expect that many of these things are normal every day tasks like what to do for dinner, what the day’s schedule involves, work tasks, and the chores that need to be done today.  For some of us at certain times, such things can become quite big things, though.  And many of your thoughts might be quite fun ones – thoughts about the universe,  your next vacation, some new project that is brewing in your creativity, what fun things to do this weekend, etc.

And then there are those things that are probably more apt to be named as concerns or worries – paying the bills, helping your children with things they might be struggling with,  your friend who shared some difficult piece of news, your aging parents, an argument with your spouse, for example.  These are things that take up a larger share of your mind, you are more concerned with outcomes, consequences, next steps.  And again, sometimes this concern can be good, as we can develop creative solutions or approaches, we might find ourselves praying more or conversing more with our family and friends, which can lead to deeper relationships.  But there is also the potential for stewing and being consumed by these things.

And then there are the outright fears.  Those, I imagine, vary with each of us.  And one person’s fear might be not even a concern for someone else.  What do you fear?

I know it can be a vulnerable sort of thing to name your thoughts, concerns, worries, and fears publicly, here, but if you are willing, I’d love to hear!  I promise . . . this is leading to something else.  More soon!

Stewardship – It’s not just the dreaded “money” time of year!

On Sunday, Jamie reported that there were some among us who didn’t know what a Stewardship Campaign was!  That’s terrible, since we’re in the midst of one.  So, I figured my first blog during our Stewardship Campaign should help remedy this!

Stewards are people who have been put in charge, been asked to care for something that is not their own.  And we, as Christians, remember and rehearse, that nothing we have is really our own.  Our time, our lives, our bodies, our money, our gifts, our children, our stuff – it’s not really ours.  I know we usually think of these things as ours.  They seem like ours.  We earned the money to purchase the things.  We seem in control of our lives and bodies.  But our Christian understanding is that all things are from God.  We are asked to take care of them, though, and to use them to honor and glorify God.

So our Stewardship Campaign is our time to renew our commitment to stewardship, particularly the way we live our stewardship through our five membership vows.  In the United Methodist Church, our membership vows are to uphold the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.  We spend a month every fall (and hopefully time throughout the year) to renew these vows and make written commitments through our pledge cards to these five areas of stewardship.

Before we can make these commitments, perhaps it’s helpful for us to consider what we think of as OURS, rather than God’s.  What are the things you cling to most?  Your time? Your money?  Your talents?  Portions of these things?  What are those things that perhaps you have a hard time thinking of as God’s, rather than yours?  What do we need to let go of and be ready to give to God and others?

Next, begin praying and thinking now about what your commitment be in 2011 will be to prayer? to being present in worship, especially, but also to other opportunities for growth?  to giving your financial gifts? to serving with your gifts? to sharing your God-sightings (witness)?  On November 7, you will have the opportunity to make these gifts firm as you turn in your pledges.

Another thing that Jamie mentioned on Sunday is that we haven’t done a good job of asking you to be accountable to all aspects of your pledges, not just your financial gifts.  How can we do this in ways that would be helpful to you?  How can we help you fulfill your commitments to all of these stewardship and membership vows?  I love to hear your thoughts!  Be sure to comment if you have any thoughts, any ideas, any stories to share.

Giving Gratitude, Living Gratitude, Day 16: Opportunities

I am amazed at the opportunities that I have had in my life.  In fact, that is one of the main ways that I see God moving in my life.  I look back at some of the opportunities that I’ve had and marvel at the way that they came to be.  Some of them are big ones, some are small ones, but there are so many gifts throughout.

I had the opportunity to learn music and dance early in my life and to play the piano and flute.  I had opportunities to lead at school and at church.  I’ve had opportunities to travel and study and explore.  I have met so many people, each with a gift to share.  I’ve had opportunities to grow and connect, to love and to create.  God has given us such a wondrous world to experience and there are opportunities all around.

I feel like I’ve been able to take advantage of some of the opportunities that have presented themselves to me because I’ve been “awake” at the right times.  Which makes me wonder how many I’ve missed because I wasn’t so awake!

Duke Chapel -- what a gift to study in that place!

Being able to study at Baylor and Duke, the opportunity to SCUBA dive, to be a part of the two-year Academy for Spiritual Formation, to have a conversation with Sen. Jon Kyl about immigration, are just a tiny portion of the opportunities that I’m so thankful that I was awake for.

What opportunities are you grateful for?