A bit of leaven in the land
Rev. Ed Taylor
Awareness is no small thing. We had been looking for a place in the country. My wife found a place just outside of town. Situated on nearly five acres, the brick farmhouse had been unoccupied for nearly a year. The house had suffered water and fire damage, recent residency by raccoons and squirrels, as well as Do-It-Yourself fits and starts. Outbuildings were in the final stages of usefulness. Hills of trash, aspiring to be mountains of trash, littered the property. The entire homestead, and once proud pasture, had become overgrown with invasive weeds, trees and bushes. Having grown up in the area, I remember the beautiful working farm it had once been. Now I saw it as it was – in need of endless clean-up, repair and renovation. She saw what it could be, what it was created to be.
After five years on the homestead my wife passed away suddenly. While significant work had been done to reclaim the potential of the place there was still much to do. Several years later I remarried a wonderful soul who had her own vision of what was possible. Her knowledge of native plants and wild-scaping brought renewed life to the place we call home. Vegetable and flower gardens were established beside spreads of wildflower; an orchard was planted featuring apples, peaches, pears, cherries, chestnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts. Grapes, serviceberry, raspberry, and elderberry bushes flourish. Over sixty-eight different varieties of trees and bushes are now well established. Bees, chickens, birds and insects have each found their role in bringing a diverse liveliness. We sense this place was waiting for us to meet God here.
Stewardship of this patch of earth is a welcome concept but falls a bit short of the wonder we have found in the reality of creation care. Writing to the Romans, the apostle Paul offers, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God,…” It is a daunting thought that all creation may be waiting for us to reveal ourselves as stewards and caregivers. At home, I understand this as our soul-work.
Upon this parcel of land and activity, I have further understood the gift of God’s reclaiming and redeeming work in Jesus Christ. For me, our homestead has become a living partnership with God in creation-care. First, it is recognizing that this place is not isolated and cannot stand alone. It is a part of the land and human community that surrounds it. Vitality is only possible with partnership and companionship. Second, it is an act of reclaiming an area for which we have some affection and control. Finally, it is a place of calling where we can live out hospitality, generosity, and ecological justice.
I have known other such holy spaces. Last year a small birding group visited Camp Walter Scott where we walked the grounds, saw renewal in progress, and heard a vision cast for the future. It, too, is a bit of leaven in the land of God’s creating.