Spring is in the air with the butterflies dancing in the Garden with the vibrant flowers swaying in sunlight and light breeze. The recent rain was welcomed and will likely keep the hills green for a few more weeks. The natural world reminds us all of the spiritual journey we are on and how using our senses can us help feel closer and connected to God. This is the case in these Eastertide days following Resurrection Sunday and how people were talking about the miracle that had

Tonight is our first evening service of Holy Week. It will look different thank in year's past. Holy Thursday coincides with 1st Thursday this year. Instead of our usual service of worship, meal and foot washing, we will have live music from our hometown favorite the Harbor Jazz Ensemble from 6:30pm-8:30pm, an agape feast table and an opportunty for foot washing. The "agape table" or love feast is a table brimming with easy to pick up and enjoy foods which remind us of the bo

This Sunday is the official beginning of Holy Week. A week every year where Christian Communities mark the last week of Jesus' life. (In the West, Eastern Christians observe these dates about a week later). From the waving of Palm Branches to a passover supper with this disciples and finally to the cross, we remember the stories at the end of Jesus life. We do all this as preparation for the celebration of Easter morning. This Easter, as in year's past we'll gather for worsh

Our winter here in Southern  California has been dry this year. I was recently talking to someone from Colorado who told me this was the least snowfall they've had in her area that she can remember. The unusually dry weather matches up with our scripture reading for this Sunday.  This week we will spend time with the prophet Ezekiel's vision: the valley of dry bones found in the 37th chapter of the book by the same name. In his vision he sees a valley filled with death restor

The Garden Church is blooming and growing with the sounds and sights of springtime on the move. I saw a Swallowtail butterfly and several hummingbirds last week at the Garden along with all the new growth in the plants growing fast. The natural rhythm of the garden reminds us of the deep wisdom that the natural world is doing what it knows how to do. We have arrived at the fourth Sunday in Lent with a focus on Jesus healing a man who was born blind as recorded in the Gospel o

We've had enough dry days in the garden that activities have picked up again. Feed and be Fed's Garden Lab is off and running with 4th graders from Taper Elementary School. This program joins the ones already running including 15th St. School, boys and Girl's club and Little Sprouts.  This past Sunday at church we were joined by members of Brianna Laural's family to plant a tree in her memory. It was a gift for our community to have time to remember her as many were not able

The rains of last week have blessed our garden with an extra dose (or 10) of water and things are growing well again. We are were blessed with dollars from the denomination's Gray Fund which has allowed us to upgrade our sound system for Sundays and also better secure our solar batteries. So while we were closed, the back corner of the garden got a re-do.  We had a blessed Ash Wednesday with our friends at St. Peter's Episcopal Church since the garden was too full of puddles

Weather we like it or not, the world is full of limits. We have limits as humans, our planet has limits. The garden has limits. This week we've had a lot of rain and the garden soil can only absorb so much before we have standing water and puddles. This year due to rain, our annual Ash Wednesday service will take place indoors with our friends at St. Peter's Episodical church (1648 W. 9th St.). We will join them for their 12pm service and then head to the neighborhoods to sha

It is finally starting to feel once again like the season we are in of winter. Rain is scheduled this week and while the garden and the natural world love fresh rain, we might be gathering indoors this Sunday. The story of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop gives us all a glimpse of Jesus being both fully human and also fully divine. It is an encouraging and hopeful moment before going down the mountain and doing the real and hard work. What is it that encourages

Saturday in the Garden we are excited to host the annual Soup-er Bowl of Caring for the 3rd year in a row. Souper-Bowl of Caring is an effort to help raise money for community based non-profits which feed people. Here in San Pedro that non-profit is Meals on Wheels. For more than five decades, Meals on Wheels here in San Pedro has helped make sure our community stays fed delivering hearty meals to those who wouldn't have them otherwise. This event is extra special because in

This Sunday falls on a Holiday from the Jewish Tradition called Tu Bishvat. A handful of years ago on a rainy December morning the Rabbi of Temple Beth El reached out to me and told me about this holiday. It's like Jewish Arbor Day she said. It's about trees and the fruits they bear and the spiritual significance of these gifts. I was sold. We gathered in the garden in the new year and Rev. Jonathan provided a Swedenborgian reflection on the spiritual correspondences of trees

Our cool winter weeks have flipped to days filled with sunshine. Between the rain and the recent sunny days, flowers have begun blooming! Our Garden Church Board Chair Carl John keeps pointing this out to me as he brings bags brimming with the result of his urban foraging to decorate our alter. Carl John points out that while the world is heavy with winter and tough headlines the earth is declaring the spring of new life! At least the earth here in Southern California. Flower

This week mud puddles kept us out of the garden on Tuesday. We plan to be back in the garden tomorrow. As happens, the rains have brought new growth to the garden. Plants are now growing in the path ways, worms found space above ground when the ground got wet and the green carpet grows again in our worship space. We are grateful for the rain, and grateful to be back in the urban sanctuary we are blessed to cultivate.  This Sunday we are reminding ourselves of the promises of

Art work: "Shining Hope" Lauren Writght Pittman, 2016 Gifts for the Lord After a quiet week in the garden between rain and a break for volunteers and staff, we are looking forward to being back on Sunday. This Sunday we're marking the end of the Christmas Season with the Holiday of Epiphany. This is the day in the church calendar when the Magi from the East followed the star to Bethlehem chronicled in the Gospel of Matthew. The Magi brought three gifts to the Lord, we'll get

Christmas is 2 days away, and Advent will end in a rainstorm locally. We are grateful for our Christmas stable in inclement weather the theater across the street.  Christmas Eve 3pm Worship tomorrow indoors at the Annex (434 W. 6th St.). We may have a few extra family and a few less regulars but as usual we never know how many or who exactly to expect at our homemade kind of church. We are grateful for the rain so that our crops grow and at the same time pray for safety in to

As the popular Christmas song goes, it is indeed beginning to look a lot like Christmas. It is a busy time of the year as we get closer to celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into our world next week. The songs, decorations, and gift giving are now unmistakable as we approach this sacred and special day. Come join us this fourth Sunday of Advent as we celebrate the incarnation of God in our world and in our community..  Matthew 1:18-25 Our God near at ha

(discription and art credit below) I've never been afraid of bugs or spiders or bees. I am well aware that many people do have these fears or dislike of buzzing insects or crawling ants. Being in the garden I have seen more than one person duck and cover when a bright green beetle comes careening towards their head. Fear is one of our basic fears. You can be afraid of something or fearful of an insect and still do the thing that makes you fear or go where those insects or ani

We've moved from summer to fall to late fall. The contents of the produce boxes has begun the slow shift to winter crops. This week there was more lettuce and less basil. More turnips and less tomatoes. The crops growing in our urban sanctuary reflect that same change. A lot more green, and more growth happening underground rather than on vines.  There is a transformation that happens through that natural world. God's creation which at times seems magical. When I live in Mich

The rain this past week was welcome even if it kept us from gathering in the garden. We are grateful for the change in weather reminding us of the seasons of our year. Last week Peter reported that hen egg production at the feed and be fed farm space is down due to the shorter days and cooler weather. Plants and animals all take their cues from the change in season. Light and weather patterns remind them that ti's time to behave differently. For us in the church, shorter days

A living parable of life at the Garden Church, is the composting that takes place at an ongoing pace near the back fence. The smells of rotting of fruit and plant materials, the flies, are also creating magic in the form of new soil. And this process of breaking materials down to create something new also brings in the local community. On Friday I will see Alex, Liz, and often Christine diligently going about their incredible work of creating something new out of what otherwi