Message of the Day from Wendy Barker
Early one morning last week, I headed outside with idea of doing some weeding and being alone with my thoughts for awhile. As I sat on my stool with my claw in hand, that old familiar song came wafting through my mind: “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the …” — well, chickweed in my case. The song evokes a wonderfully intimate experience of being with Christ and feeling his presence as “he walks with me and he talks with me, and he tells me that I am his own”.
We gain much from being together in worship, and feeling the uplifting sense of “where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst”. However, sometimes we do need to be truly alone in order to connect personally with God.
There has been much theological discussion as to whether the song “In the Garden” should be permitted in worship because of the line, “And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known”. Of course the joy of knowing God was never meant to be exclusive — but just as we are each created differently and uniquely, perhaps we may also each have our own individual sense of joy in our relationship with God. As one proponent of including the hymn in their denomination’s hymnbook noted, the Bible itself says, “The Lord is my Shepherd”, emphasizing that uniquely individual relationship.
Well, I only made a few inroads into the weeds, but I came back from the garden feeling a great sense of peace.
Words of Inspiration:
“The Lord will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
And will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
Like a spring whose waters never fail.”
-Isaiah 58:11 (NIV)
Prayer:
God who created the first garden,
and who first revealed the risen Christ to one he loved in a garden,
We thank you that you walk this life with us and love us each individually.
Open our hearts to your guiding Word, and help us to reflect your love in our actions.
-Amen