Gardening, Lent, & Generosity
By Jim Holland (written March 2014)It was what happened last Sunday afternoon that signaled the yearly shift in my personal, communal, and spiritual life. I was burning off my asparagus bed. To do this, I have a blowtorch. It is a simple thing, really. You hook the hose to a propane tank and grab the wand, which has a knob to turn on the gas and a lever to allow the gas to pass through. When you pull the lever, it sounds like a jet engine and throws a white-hot flame about seven feet long. The effect is spectacular.I was just lighting the blowtorch when two of my grandsons were piling out of the car. In “alpha male” fashion, and trying to impress my grandsons, I hoisted the torch in the air, mashed the lever as far as it would go, and let out a primeval scream. This had the desired effect on Eero and Elijah. I could see testosterone waffling off of them as they ran to what would surely be a grand adventure.Now that I had them whipped up into a frenzy, we made our way to the asparagus bed, where they would assist me in this pyrotechnic marvel. Right before spring each year, this bed is just a tangled mass of dead, dried canes. You could cut them, but why do that when you have fire! So I fired up the torch and walked the twenty-five feet of the bed, throwing liquid flame on the dead ancestors of the tasty goodness that was still nestled in the rich, loamy soil, just waiting for sunlight and warmth so they could come forth into the morning light of a new spring. My grandsons were in tow as I commentated on why we were doing this.It was when all the grass along the whole length of the asparagus bed started burning that I knew my enthusiasm had clouded reason. I had a grass fire that I couldn’t put out! I started screaming to Teri and Bethan (they were there to protect the children, I am sure) to bring something to smother the flames. This was out of control, and I had visions of burning down Fayette County as I saw the flames licking their way towards the barn on one end, and my vineyard on the other. At some point, I had a moving blanket, beating frantically at the flames, when I saw a flash of movement. Eliot had appeared and was moving like the Tasmanian Devil, saving the vineyard, and perhaps Fayette County.In the aftermath of getting the fire out, I snapped a picture that, when I look at it, makes me laugh. Eero has a water hose, spraying the burned-out scar on my landscape; Eliot is dragging the blanket he has wielded with expert efficiency, pondering his achievement; and Bethan, great with child, is standing, with blanket in hand, wondering why this continues to happen. Teri is on the porch, looking confused.Yes, it must be Lent! Both spiritually and physically, this time of year is a time of preparation. In both the life of the Church and in my garden, it is time to weed out old habits, prepare the soil of our hearts, and brace ourselves for the event that rocked history and changes people for eternity—the resurrection of Jesus.Lent is the forty-day period of preparing our hearts to ponder anew what Jesus’ death and resurrection means to us. It will begin with Ash Wednesday on March 5th. Yes, we will all have death rubbed in our faces and be reminded that we are but dust; we are full of sin and desperately need a savior. Many will fast from things they love, not in order to get Jesus to love them more, but as a reminder of what Jesus gave up so that he could sing over us. Many who have believed the gospel for a long time will use special devotionals to clear away the cobwebs of familiarity, and seek to see Jesus’ costly work for sinners in a fresh way. This is all good, as long as it leads us to a deeper love for God, love for people and love for the redeemed life that flows from a heart overwhelmed by Jesus.This Lent will have a little different flavor. Well, not a little different flavor; a hugely different flavor. It will be a time of deep reflection on our commitment to see the kingdom of God advance in greater measure to our friends, neighbors, and the entire Collierville community. On Sunday, March 23, we will begin a Generosity Initiative in order to raise money for a permanent facility. We will spend a month as a community of faith, pondering what it means to be generous, not just with our money, but also our whole lives as well. Obviously, this plays right into what we know of God, the ultimate Giver. In response to this glorious truth, on Palm Sunday we will be asking everyone in our community to prayerfully consider and commit to what they will sacrificially invest to see the gospel go forward in greater measure in Collierville.The culmination of Lent is the death of Jesus. In one moment in time, God forever sealed his character to the world. What motive is behind God taking flesh? What moved God to sacrifice the most beautiful, priceless treasure of heaven? What kind of God would rather die than live without you? If you get through Lent and are not asking these questions, you have somehow missed the whole point.The point is this: God is the very definition of generosity—“We love because he first loved us.” “We sacrifice because he sacrificed for us.” “We are generous with our money, time, and lives because God is the most generous!” I sincerely hope that we will all look back on the next two months as a “tipping point” in our individual lives, and the life of St. Patrick as well.