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

This past weekend many in our community has a first day of the month unlike any other, their was no replenishment of funds on their EBT cards. These cards are part of the CalFresh (Nationally known as SNAP) food assistance program. Needless to say anxiety around food insecurity has been very high since Saturday. At church on Sunday we heard from several people who were concerned by not knowing if and when they would receive their benefits. Thankfully we had just received a ge

The red brick wall in the garden is once again filled with names in chalk. They are the names of those who have gone to be with the Lord. On Sunday they were prayed for one by one carefully by Dr. Linda O'Brien-Rothe and Sandra Field. This week and for the next year we as a church community will pray for all who have died including a member of our own community Maria who passed from this life to more life on New Year's Day. The annual Día de Los Muertos (or day of the dead) i

Most years in late October our regular Sunday routine is pre-empted by a large gathering (by large I mean 10,000 people!) in downtown San Pedro. Our city blocks are overtaken by community members celebrating the annual Day of the Dead or Día de Los Muertos . It's an international holiday which is traditionally celbrated in the days following Halloween around All Saint's Day, but in LA tends to span several weekends in late October. Traditionally the holiday is for prayer and

With the rain this week, cooler temperatures and the shorter days, it is finally feeling like fall here in Southern California. With our government still shutdown, a Kaiser Permanente strike, and all the other things happening in our communities and around the world, there is no doubt that we are all experiencing challenging times. Our fall sermon series theme is Faith Over Fear and part of our faith journey is to simply recognize when we are feeling fear and to try to let go

This weekend is a special one in San Pedro. At Angeles Gate Cultural Center there is the 19th annual Many Winter's Gathering of Elders....

Fall is underway which looks like less daylight, and butternut squash busting off the vines. This fall has also brought the uncertainty...

We are in the midst of the Fall Sermon Series: Faith Over Fear but we took a break last Sunday to appreciate the Sun on the Autumnal...

Summer has begun slipping into Fall. We have just begun to have some cooler mornings, and the bright sunshine is tempered by costal...

In recent weeks the summer weather has been heating up. While it hasn't been our hottest summer we did finally hit morning temperatures...

The summer heat has turned up in the garden. We are keeping an eye on the temperatures to make sure our volunteers are safe on hot days....

I don't remember when I was introduced to the concept that some people are "makers/" But the term has stuck with me. I think it was a...