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