Tending The Garden

Your beloved Christ Church has been hosting Vacation Bible School this week. The week of VBS is always fun because you get to see children running around, playing together, screaming, laughing, and simply being children. It is a great privilege for me to watch them from my window. There is great value in that. It reminds me of my own childhood and the magic of being a child.

I am grateful to all the children, counselors, and volunteers who have worked so hard to make this year’s camp such a huge success. The children will crown the week with a VBS service and ice cream on Sunday.

As part of making this holy space reflect the year's theme, the sanctuary has been transformed into a beautiful garden. The children learned about creation. My daughter told me she learned about bees and brought home some honey.

From where I sit, these offerings provide an amazing opportunity for the children to reimagine a whole new experience with the gifts that God has graciously provided for our enjoyment and sustenance.

I remember my first garden. It was about 20 meters from my father’s house, beside a building that has now been turned into a church. I planted tomatoes, peppers, and maize. Nothing fancy, but it gave me some early experience with tending, responsibility, and intentionality. It was magical for me to see a seed I planted grow into something I could harvest and eat.

My joy was in the harvesting. The deepest joy was seeing the harvested produce used as an ingredient in cooking for everyone. The truth is that I couldn’t eat everything I harvested in my garden all by myself. The joy was in the shared experience of cooking and eating. It was always a surreal moment that brought so much happiness because I could see the satisfaction of my labor.

Our first experience of a garden, before we could even think about having our own, is the story of the Garden of Eden. This was a garden that God graciously gave to Adam and Eve, our progenitors. This was a garden that had everything they could ever need. Their task was to tend the garden, but that didn’t happen.

Whenever I visit parishioners with gardens, I get the privilege of enjoying them. Some do not necessarily have gardens, but they may have flowers or plants in flowerpots. The joy is not about having them, but it is in tending those flowers and plants if you want to see them flourish and beautify your home.

It may not matter how big or small your garden is, or if you have a garden or a flowerpot in your house. But know as I do, that our task or responsibility to the garden, plant, or flower is to tend it.

To me, creation by itself alone is beautiful; but when we tend it, we make it ever more glorious.

One of those gardens is our own Christ Church. Over the past several months, we have had the privilege of Yehinuel Odidi serving with us. He has been an incredible addition to our clergy team; he worked very well with our ministry teams, volunteers, and staff. Although commuting to Columbia from Alexandria, VA, was a bit of a challenge, he didn’t complain; he made it to Christ Church on Sunday mornings to participate in worship. I think I can say that he believed that tending a garden isn’t so much about the challenges involved in tending the garden, but it is about the love you have for the garden.

I have nothing but a great sense of admiration and respect for his faithfulness, enthusiasm, work ethic, and grace. His timely sermons and deep presence will be missed by all of us. To his mentor team - Jan DeBoissierre, Diana Hall, and Sonni Aribiah - thank you for accepting the request to be a part of the team that helped shape his pastoral gifts. I am sure he would hold tightly to the critical insights you shared with him. I believe he has a very bright future in the church, and it has been an honor to have guided him throughout his time with us. 

It was our hope that he would stay one more year with us as he worked to complete his senior year at Virginia Theological Seminary. But the challenges in making that happen were beyond our control, making it impossible for us to ensure he could continue to faithfully serve at Christ Church.

I have no doubt in my mind that Yehi tended this garden very well. He was first attracted to this garden because of your faithfulness and sense of welcome. And throughout his time with us, you only confirmed what he had come to experience about this place on his first visit. His love for Christ Church was a love at first sight, and I am glad we didn’t disappoint him. We will all celebrate his time with us this Sunday.

I’d like to add that, on a much deeper level, it seems to me that each of us is a garden unto themselves and our most sacred task is to tend that garden. There are moments when we can tend the garden ourselves, and there are times when others must tend it for us; either way, the garden must be tended if we want to see it flourish and thrive.

To tend to something is to pay attention to it, so to tend a garden is to pay attention to the garden. You do not have to limit a garden to a place like the one near my father’s house, where anyone could grow pepper, tomatoes, or maize. You don't have to limit it to a sacred place where children can come and learn about faith, or to a place where a seminarian can come and learn about different ways of serving God’s people. To me, a garden is so broad that it encompasses every single activity or place.

If we believe that what we pay attention to shapes what we care about, and what we care about shapes what we can become, then there is no doubt in my mind that paying attention to a garden, tending a garden, whatever you consider to be your garden, is the most sacred thing you can ever do. 

Blessed Summer, 

Manny+