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. . . and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden
---Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, 1970 Woodstock
I recently made a presentation of the historian Jon Meacham’s book The American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation for the monthly meeting of an inter-denominational men’s fellowship group.
Meacham tells us the Founding Fathers worked with the acknowledgement that religion and morality provide “indispensable supports for society” (Benjamin Franklin) while not dictating a particular type of worship. Also, there was a majority bias in the direction of ensuring the separation of church and state. Roger Williams, a minister in Massachusetts, called for
“a hedge or wall of separation between the Garden of the church and the wilderness of the world."
Williams was mostly interested in saving the church from the state, not the state from the church. He didn’t view the influence of Constantine or Henry VIII on the church as anything other than corrupt. Meanwhile, Patrick Henry’s efforts in Virginia towards making the United States more of a theocracy (or at least so for Virginia) failed to find agreement among the Founding Fathers from his state.
Along with the Founding Fathers’ strong sense of separating church and state and marking out Public and Private religion as two spheres, Meacham draws attention to the often-present danger of extremism. He writes:
“Extremism is a powerful alliance between fear and certitude; complexity, and humility are its natural foes."
Meacham maintains that the United States is at its best when the country practices humility, particularly in relation to religion.
The images of ‘the Garden’ and ‘the wilderness of the world’ also appear as an important distinction drawn in another book I have been reading—or re-visiting—this summer: The Garden of Eden: The Botanic Garden and the Recreation of Paradise by John Prest. Only, as Prest points out, if we turn to the Bible for inspiration, the interplay between the hedged or walled garden and the wilderness is not always a sharp divide.
The enclosed garden, in medieval times and much earlier, became ‘a secret place, enclosing within it the mysteries of the Old and New Testaments.' Echoes of Eden, and of Paradise, and man’s yearning to return to a place of peace, harmony and healing, informed his gardening efforts to clear and wall a place from the wilderness. And yet, there developed
“a bewildering variety of contrasts and similarities between the Garden and the Wilderness...the Garden, or Paradise, with its softness, ease, and lack of exertion... becomes a moral wilderness, while the desert with its hardships, is the high road to religious experience, and is itself a Paradise."
John Prest was a historian by profession and gardener by ardent avocation. What sent me back to his wonderful book is my enthusiasm in hearing about the gardening work currently taking place with Sarah Flint, the Creation Care Fellow at St Peter’s, Fernandina and with Art Shults, the garden founder and manager at St Mary’s, Springfield, and the volunteer, Jamie Chiles, both expanding and multiplying the gifts of the physical campus of St Mary’s. You can read about St. Peter’s and St. Mary’s and their garden stories in this edition of the Bishop’s Institute e-Newsletter.
Yours sincerely,
Douglas
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Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will.
Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.
Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth.
In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
--from Prayers and Thanksgivings, The Book of Common Prayer
Commentary on the Prayer
Massey Hamilton Shepherd, Jr (1913-1990) was an Episcopal priest and leading liturgist of the Episcopal Church. He was a leading figure in developing the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, having served on the Church’s Standing Liturgical Commission 1947-76. He was one of a select group of American members of other churches to be invited to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s as a special observer.
Here is his excellent commentary on this prayer for our country:
‘The magnificent general intercession for our country was composed by The Rev. George Lyman Loch (d. 1919), for 52 years Rector of Saint Michael’s Church, Bristol, R.I., at the instigation and suggestion of The Rev. Dr William Reed Huntington.
It was published in the Book Annex of 1883, as a part of the proposed service for Thanksgiving Day. However, it was not admitted into the Prayer Book until the 1928 revision, and then with several alterations of Lock’s striking phraseology.
Though it has the timeless ring of all true liturgical prayer, it reflects no less truly the expansive and turbulent era of our national history in which the prayer was composed: the rapid development of the West, the tremendous influx of foreign immigration, the rise of ‘Big Business’, the violence attendant upon the organization of labor, the corruption and scandals in high places, and, not least, the emergence of the United States as a world power.
The concluding petitions of the prayer are redolent of the language and piety of the Psalter: thanksgiving in prosperity and trust in times of adversity.’
Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary, 1950.
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A Quiet Garden to Benefit Jacksonville's
Urban Core
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Photo courtesy of Liesl Gavronsky-Howsare, St Mary’s Food Pantry Manager
St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Springfield, Jacksonville
Under the leadership of Art Shults, St. Mary’s is planning to repurpose a section of its on-campus vegetable garden to create a Quiet Garden space conducive to meditation, stillness and quiet conversation. This concept is a brainstorm of garden founder and manager Art Shults, volunteer Jamie Chiles, with a healthcare background in cardiology and wellness, and church staff.
“Most of our organic vegetable production comes from 3 large plots that we lease from the UF Extension office,” says Art. “The area we are redesigning receives too much shade to produce much food, but it is ideal for native plants, trees and herbs.” The garden will include a spiraling path, leading to a water feature in the center. Benches will be strategically placed for those who wish to pause and enjoy the tranquility of the space.
“This a great opportunity to share peace and calm with our pantry visitors,” said The Rev. Dn. Catherine Montgomery, who manages St. Mary’s outreach. “Along with a self-guided opportunity, the garden allows for pastoral conversations and spiritual direction.” Retreatants will benefit as well. Already, a number of groups, from churches and the wider community, make use of Dearing House, our butterfly gardens and the sanctuary. The new Quiet Garden will offer a space set apart from other campus activities. “The garden will be open to our neighbors as well, offering a respite for urban dwellers,” Montgomery added.
When Art Shults came to St. Mary’s in 2019 for worship, he spotted a large empty swath of dirt behind the administrative offices. “I’d like to put a garden here, and I’ll manage the volunteers,” he told the Rev. Cn. Beth Tjoflat, vicar for St. Mary’s and Canon for Urban Ministry. Mother Beth was thrilled and attributed Art’s inspiration to the Holy Spirit. Since then, the garden has grown to include a demonstration garden by the fence of Laura Street, with a QR code so passersby can get seasonal ideas for their own gardens. “The new Quiet Garden will be a sacred manifestation of our commitment to be a resource for our neighbors,” Mother Beth said.
If you would like to support the mission of St. Mary’s, consider making a gift online at www.stmarysjax.org or mail checks to 1924 N. Laura St., Jax, FL 32206. Online gifts received in July will be matched!
| | An Interview with Sarah Flint, Creation Care Fellow, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Fernandina Beach | | |
Sarah, please tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be involved in creation care and environmental work.
SF: My route to Creation Care was filled with twists and turns! My degree is in mechanical engineering, and I worked as a biomedical engineer in the medical device industry for the first part of my career. Although I was raised in a devout Catholic household, in my early adulthood I was active in the Unitarian Universalist Church and started taking steps toward ordination in that denomination. I started an M.Div. at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. I didn’t finish the degree, but looking back at that experience it was pivotal in bringing me back to mainstream Protestantism, and for equipping me for the work I do now.
Although it seems like a strange place to hear God’s call, I experienced my call to Creation Care sitting in a lecture on sea level rise in 2019. I sat there wondering why I didn’t see more people of faith expressing our love of God and for each other by working to nurture God’s natural world and taking care of our neighbors suffering from environmental injustice. I realized that my science background along with my seminary coursework are a good combination for Creation Care, and I’ve been “all in” ever since.
Diana Butler Bass writes: “To me, the question about the future of Christianity has become: “What must Christians do to serve all creation when the island itself is in danger of sinking?” She calls this the existential question of our time.
Do you share this sense of urgency? If so, how do you energize people to get involved in creation care without scaring them to death or, if they suffer it, their sense of eco-anxiety—that it’s all doomed?
SF: That is such a great question. I share that urgency. However, I’ve learned that expressing a lot of doom and gloom and bullying people with scientific facts is not an effective way to inspire people. Sometimes it’s really hard, but I do everything in my power to dial back my own fear and anxiety to meet people where they are, and to encourage them in the work of Creation Care from a theological perspective.
I try to encourage individuals and organizations to just choose one or two things to do better and create habits, so the work doesn’t feel overwhelming. And while the little individual things we do won’t by themselves reverse climate change, they raise consciousness and combined with the efforts of others really add up. Those small acts become an important spiritual practice. Anything we do to reduce pollution and restore biodiversity is a needed and a good thing.
For my friends with eco-anxiety I do my best to provide a safe space for expressing their concerns, and I validate them. Sadly, the concerns are usually true threats from a scientific perspective. But as Christians we know that with God anything is possible, and the end of the story isn’t written. We have every reason to hope we can reverse the devastating trends for the sake of future generations. And our God is a God of resurrection. When we give the natural world a chance to rebound, we see amazing resilience in our natural systems. That resilience gives me great hope.
To continue reading, please click here.
| | For Joy in God's Creation | | |
O heavenly Father, who hast filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold thy gracious hand in all thy works; that, rejoicing in thy whole creation, we may learn to serve thee with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer
Photo: courtesy of Canon Beth Tjoflat, St Mary’s, Springfield
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Susanna P. Barton. Grand Plans 2.0: How to Mitigate Geri-Drama in 20 Easy Steps Paperback – February 15, 2025.
Around 18% of the U.S. population is 65 or older. America is learning that navigating the ‘second half (2.0) of life involves mindful financial, medical, legal, spiritual and emotional planning. Susanna Barton is part of the new Center for Wellbeing at St John’s Cathedral.
Do your loved ones a favor and have a look at the steps Susanna maps out to avoid for them and one’s self what she calls ‘Geri-Drama’--- geriatric drama “when an older loved one’s wheels have completely fallen off the bus due to lack of planning, and there are crises and explosions and fires to address literally everywhere, every day with every little thing." Yikes!
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Wendell Berry. The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry Paperback – May 14, 2019.
"Compelling, luminous . . . our modern-day Thoreau. He is unlike anybody else writing today. He writes at least as well as George Orwell and has an urgent message for modern industrial capitalism . . . nobody can risk ignoring him." ―Andrew Marr, New Statesman
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Mark Elsdon. We Aren't Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry Paperback – June 1, 2021.
Church and missional organizations nationwide own billions of dollars of prime property and investment assets, which, when combined with social enterprise and new expressions of mission, can be put to work for innovation and transformation. And these resources are often available to us right now. – from Amazon review.
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Jon Meachem. American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation Paperback – March 20, 2007.
“An absorbing narrative full of vivid characters and fresh thinking, American Gospel tells how the Founding Fathers–and their successors–struggled with their own religious and political convictions to work out the basic structure for freedom of religion. For me this book was nonstop reading.”—Elaine Pagels, professor of religion, Princeton University.
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John Prest. The Garden of Eden: The Botanic Garden and the Recreation of Paradise Paperback – August 24, 1988.
It is out of print but not hard to find a secondhand copy from Amazon or AbeBooks. Read it and you will want to plant a walled garden or head for the desert.
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Shawn O. Strout. Bound Together: Baptism, Eucharist, and the Church Paperback – December 10, 2024.
"For all those who feel that the words 'hospitality' and 'inclusivity' are a sufficient justification for 'communion without baptism,' the Rev. Dr. Shawn Strout's book is a must read. All the bases are covered—biblical, historical, ecumenical—He shows that theological coherence requires that we keep the bond and order between baptism and the Eucharist. ― Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary
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Frances M. Young. Brokenness and Blessing: Towards a Biblical Spirituality Paperback – September 1, 2007.
Frances Young is a patristics scholar and a Methodist minister.
Personal and profound, this work of Frances M. Young brings to life a deeply traditional and immediately relevant way of reading the Scriptures. We are given the privilege of seeing the transforming effect of the encounter with the Word of God as she allows the scriptural narratives, as they have been read by the Fathers, to bear upon her own life and experience--from brokenness to blessing. John Behr, Dean, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary
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Michael Joseph Gross. Stronger: The Untold Story of Muscle in Our Lives Hardcover – March 11, 2025.
“Even if you’ve never picked up a weight—Stronger is for you.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger
Stronger tells a story of breathtaking scope, from the battlefields of the Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad, where muscles enter the scene of world literature; to the all-but-forgotten Victorian-era gyms on both sides of the Atlantic, where women build strength and muscle by lifting heavy weights; to a retirement home in Boston, where a young doctor makes the astonishing discovery that frail ninety-year-olds can experience the same relative gains of strength and muscle as thirty-year-olds if they lift weights.--- Amazon review
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Stephanie L. Herdrich (author) and 7 more. Sargent and Paris Hardcover – April 29, 2025.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press. Exhibition schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(April 27–August 3, 2025) and then Musée d’Orsay, Paris (September 22, 2025–January 11, 2026)
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David Nott. War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line Paperback – March 9, 2021.
For more than 25 years, surgeon David Nott has volunteered in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993 to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving operations and field surgery in the most challenging conditions. War Doctor is his extraordinary story, encompassing his surgeries in nearly every major conflict zone since the end of the Cold War. . . an uplifting and deeply compassionate story about the brave medical professionals trying to combat evil and heal their patients despite the terrible circumstances. --- Amazon review.
| | St. Mary Magdalene: July 22 | | |
COLLECT
Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed from all our infirmities and know you in the power of his unending life; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
| | From St. John's Cathedral, Jacksonville | | | | |
