Nov. 16, 2009 issue
Sustainable gardening, sustainable faith
By Larry MillerPage:
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At this point in the fall, there’s a bulwark in the freezer, and the canning shelves sag.
The rototiller is back in the shed. I am slowing down for the winter and thinking about what it means not only to have sustainably grown produce but also a sustainable faith.
Recently I was sharing gardening insights with Kevin Harrison of Birmingham, Ala. Kevin is a Christian who plans to begin marketing produce.
“Couldn’t I sell produce, enlighten my customers to the value of organic and pesticide-free veggies, by having a picture and data of the local grower beside the basket?” Kevin wondered.
I supported the idea, remembering that my best teaching always came connected to a testimonial or experience. Kevin and I believe many people really would rather buy local, fresh, safe, tasty and labeled food.
Kevin had an additional question: “Isn’t it important that they also know that a person of Christian faith, with concern for the Creator God’s intentions, grew this basket of okra?”
I concurred, and we pondered how sustaining gardening and sustaining faith mesh. Our enduring belief in Christ’s love — mine as a senior adult and Kevin’s as a young believer — challenged me to think about areas beyond our gardening interests.
Reading in the Gospel about our witness being established by “the kind of fruit produced” (Matt. 7:17-20) gives reason to analyze what it means to have sustainable faith.
Steven Hamilton wrote of instructions for kingdom economics in Leviticus 19 in his piece, “Time Is of the Essence,” on the blog Sustainable Faith.
“One of the instructions was to not reap your whole field, but leave margins as benevolence for the poor and the stranger and the outcast,” Hamilton wrote.
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