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| "This is my very favorite time in the garden, when the lilacs and apple blossoms are in bloom!" --Andrea Barrineau |
Spring days find many of us in our gardens, waiting for first seeds to push up green shoots or delighting in new fern fronds unfurling.
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| "Sunny Window Gardening," Marcy Lagerloef |
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"Our ‘herb & salad’ garden - safe from deer on our deck," Cathcart family |
All flower photographs above, Kate Kinney
Did you know that the church has special days to celebrate gardens? This year, the worldwide church will celebrate Rogation Days on May 10-12. Rogation Days, from "rogare," to ask" in Latin, dates back to 470 AD, a treacherous time for French gardeners.
In the midst of war, invasion, disease and natural disasters, Christians followed the lead of their Bishop in prayerfully walking the boundaries of the parish, or "beating the bounds." The day became fixed in tradition as a time when neighbors would check in our neighbors, asking God to bless their gardens and the earth that sustained them.
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| --Marcy Lagerloef |
We're looking forward to celebrating Rogation Days at Grace. Consider heading out to beat the bounds yourself, whether you chose to walk the periphery of your garden, your neighborhood, or Grace Church. (Or you can even just ask God to bless your favorite potted plant!)
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"One of my hopes is to look less for perfection and spend more time just enjoying it." --Andrea Barrineau
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Prayers, like the one below, can include insects and animals that help to sustain our land and can stretch beyond the boundaries of our own gardens to bless the many people around the world who cultivate our good earth.
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| "Veg Bed," Marcy Lagerloef |
Master Gardener, we ask that you nurture and sustain all that grows in this place.
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| --Andrea Barrineau |
Thank you for wise, old trees that give us shade and tiny, new seeds that coax new life into being.
We pray for the animals and insects who share this land with us.
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| "Mason bee waking up on March 31," Marcy Lagerloef |
"Garden Froggie," Kathleen Abell and Grandson
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| Garden bunny, Marcy Lagerloef |
We pray for all whose lives are closely linked to gardens, asking that you send rain and sunshine so that all may be richly fed and nurtured.
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| "The full garden in Ethiopia shows carrot plants with seed heads (the white like Queen Anne’s Lace). The other two are of teaching students about gardens. One is about planting and the other shows mulching." --Beulah Downing & Dennis Carlson |
Make us worthy gardeners. Help us to reverence and cultivate life wherever we find it.
Amen.
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| Volunteers at the Gifts of Dirt Garden. For more about this garden, click here. |
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