One of our Urban Compassion groups took our normal meeting time yesterday evening and went over to our community garden. It was a beautiful night to sow some seeds. I wanted to provide you with a pictoral of what we did.
Thanks to both Ryan Smith and Ryan Shatek for delivering some dirt to fill the gardens. As you can see by the strings laid out on the garden nearest to you in the picture above, Pastor Carl has a knack for laying out things so that they're done right.
Another thing that's cool in the picture above is the kids. Shalee was there with her son (and the little one who hasn't quite yet made their appearance!); Shateks and Jebes were there with theirs, and so on. Cool to see families serving together.
To the right is a picture of a local neighborhood girl who was playing in the park just across the street from the garden. Although here she is seen with Josh learning how to plant, when she first crossed the street towards us she made a bee line to Pastor Carl.
It was a great illustration of a principle called "cultural mirroring." Cultural mirroring states that people generally gravitate towards people who look like them - people they can more easily identify with. All the more reason for us to keep inviting people like Pastor Carl and others to join us, teach us, model for us, and serve in visible and significant leadership positions. If we're going to become multiethnic, it's going to come about as a result of looking multiethnic (and thanks for that lesson, Pastor Carl).
Another great thing the picture above illustrates is the organic draw of a place like this. People in the neighborhood will want to know what's going on. Becuase it serves the community, the community will want to be a part of it. The goal is to create something that is a natural connecting point between our church and the community of Waterloo in a way that blesses the community of Waterloo. Just really cool to see it happening already.
Peppers, onions, snap beans, carrots, tomatoes... we planted all kinds of vegetables. Of course, I was busy supervising and taking pictures, which is why you don't see me working. (It's not the only reason why, but that's what I'm sticking with.)
I got to hand it to Josh: the simple hose system with sprinklers on metal poles was ingenious. It's ideas like those that make me grateful that people are wired differently. If I was in charge of this project, we would have left with a bunch of plants in dry dirt.
In the far right side of the picture above is some rhubarb that we planted in the ground. Good ol' Iowa soil - black no matter where you put the spade in the ground.
So, after reading this, you might be asking: How can I get involved in this if I haven't attended a class?
Good question. A little later in the summer, we'll be holding a barbecue out at the garden, opening it up to the community, and invite you all along to participate. That will be a great way for you to see the garden in action. Also, Pastor Carl is working to provide you with opportunities to bless the community this summer through prayer walking and neighborhood chaplaincy - something that we'll be telling you more about in the coming weeks.
That's all for now!
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