Allison McLain is founder and coordinator of St. John’s Jesus Garden, now in its seventh summer. She wrote this reflection in January 2015, after the garden’s first season.
Excerpt from “Musings on the Jesus Food Garden 2015”
Last spring, when we were planning a garden to grow vegetables for the Downtown Soup Kitchen, quite a few people asked me “why.”
The answer is “because it makes a difference to this one.”
I have this answer thanks to the Rev. Carlo Rapanut, our conference superintendent. Way back in September he preached a sermon called Sent Out. It really spoke to me because I have often felt that God has sent me out to do stuff – not miraculous stuff, mind you - but stuff like teaching, buying cases of SPAM for F.I.S.H., being a Girl Scout leader, and growing vegetables for Downtown Soup Kitchen. During that sermon the Rev. Rapanut was talking about God sending out people to be his disciples and to do his will in this world. Once when someone asked him once why it was important that he was doing the kind of ministry he was doing, the Rev. Rapanut responded “because it makes a difference to this one.”
“That is why we have a Jesus Garden,” I thought. Because it might make a difference in one person’s life to have a cup of soup that is made with our fresh vegetables. Because it is served with love and caring at the Downtown Soup Kitchen, and that love and caring does make a difference in people’s lives. The 6 pounds of cauliflower, 28 pounds of cabbage, the 8 pounds each of kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, and collards made a difference somehow – some way in the lives of the people who ate the soup made with our vegetables. The 80 pounds of apples picked off our family tree by Girl Scouts from the troop our church sponsors became the centerpiece of at least two 500-person meals of mulligatawny soup – the Wednesday soup at DSK.
What we did last summer with our little garden made a difference in people’s lives. I am getting really excited about working on the garden again this summer. It brought me great joy to watch our garden grow. I must confess to talking to the veggies, encouraging them to grow big and strong so they would nourish others. I prayed for our little garden to be fruitful. Our Pastor John said last Sunday, “God is multiplying our gifts” and our Jesus Garden is a perfect example of God’s work through us in this world. I look forward to another year of gardening with friends at St. John and I hope to welcome many more volunteers to our garden.
~ Allison McLain