Blessing of the Garden Soils by Rev. Jennie Churchman

On Sunday, April 26, we are going to do something new.  In celebration of Earth Stewardship Sunday, we will participate in a “blessing of the garden soils.”  Everyone is invited to bring a cup or other similar container of your garden soil to worship with you.  (I’m actually hoping a few worms hitch a ride too!  That would make it a blessing of the soils and the animals all rolled into one!)  During our prayer time that Sunday in both services, we will share in this special service of blessing.

This is actually an ancient Christian tradition, dating back to the fifth century.  In more liturgical circles, it’s called Rogation Days, from the Latin word rogare which means “to ask.”  Farmers have long asked for God’s blessing upon their fields and crops during Rogation Days.  In British Anglican tradition, “the community would process around the perimeter of the parish with banners and bells, marking the boundaries of property at memorable trees or other landmarks” (from www.episcopalrelief.org).

Within the Anglican tradition in recent years, there has been a movement to redefine Rogation Days:

Instead of setting up boundaries around their gardens (and their hearts), participants are encouraged to break down the boundaries of purely self-centered concerns.  In the biblical tradition of using gardening imagery as a teaching tool for spiritual growth, communities are led in praying for their harvest as a means of sharing with those in need both locally and around the world—and in growing toward the full stature of Christ (from www.episcopalrelief.org).

This is what we will do on April 26.  We will ask for God’s blessing upon our vegetable and flower gardens.  At the same time, we will ask God to give us eyes to see and hearts to feel so that we might share our bounty with those in need.  In the meantime, this “Seed Sowing Psalm” by Fr. Ed Hays is a good one for us all (from Psalms for Zero Gravity):

Divine Mystery, assist me to be a wise gardener,
who, with great care, will sow only good seeds this day,
those deeds and attitudes that truly will give you glory.

If by habit, sloth or accident, I might sow an evil seed,
in haste, before it takes root, may I pluck it up at once,
lest it grow an evil harvest.

Every word, deed and hidden thought
is a seed whose DNA insures a fruit unfolding to ripe maturity
that someday will be my life-harvest returned to me.

May it be, O Holy One, a harvest of Life.