Hymn Suggestions:             ELW 587  There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy

                                                ACS 1064  Earth Is Full of Wit and Wisdom

                                                ACS 1000  God’s Work, Our Hands

The Impact of One Pollinator Garden

When I first started the pollinator garden on our front lawn, I did so in response to reports about the decline of pollinator habitat. That news was disheartening, yet in the face of so many challenges on our planet in this 21st century, here was something I could actually do to make a difference for the better. I started planning and digging and planting and mulching and weeding. Within a couple of years, the native plants were getting established, the pollinators were feasting, and I kept digging up more lawn to expand the pollinator garden. At the four-year mark, I was ready to register this garden as a Monarch Way Station. https://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/

My initial motivation was to spend time, energy and money for the benefit of the butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. If we humans were going to thrive and flourish, I knew that we needed the pollinators to thrive and flourish, which meant providing habitat for them to thrive and flourish. As is often the case, the benefits exceeded my expectations. What I had not anticipated were the meaningful relationships that I would witness and experience through this one pollinator garden, as the abundant and vibrant life of this garden encouraged and invited neighbor to interact with neighbor – human neighbor, creature neighbor, pollinator neighbor.

• As teenagers whizzed by on their skateboards, one stopped abruptly and cried out to the others, “Whoa! Check this out!” They stopped. There were audible gasps. Together these teenage boys paused to share in the joy of an abundance of Monarchs.

• One evening while I was tending the garden, a young woman abruptly stopped running, pulled both ear buds out of her ears, and turned to look me in the eye and declare, “Wow! That’s a lot of butterflies!” That declaration began a conversation that led to deeper engagement between the two of us, who lived in the same neighborhood but had never previously spoken to one another.

• The dog from next door regularly came over to sit still and watch the garden abuzz and aflutter with life. After a sustained time of stillness, he would often turn and yip to whomever was nearby as if to say, “Isn’t this glorious?! And isn’t it grand to share in this moment together?!”

• Children would often come to visit the pollinator garden. First, they would look, and then they would look closer, with eyes as big as saucers. The gentle voice of a parent or grandparent, or sometimes me, their friendly neighbor, would offer assurance that with such a delicious feast for those bees or wasps to enjoy, they had no intent to bring any harm to children watching them.

How often do we pause to take delight in nature? How often do we invite others to share in that moment with us? And how easy and inviting it is to begin conversations that start with wonderment and a smile!

Pausing is an important part of each of the afore-mentioned scenarios. Pausing to notice, to look, to consider, to share. With such pauses can come healing, as we bask in the beauty and open ourselves to recognize the interconnectedness of life with one another – with people known and unknown, with fellow creatures, and with the pollinators we celebrate. Life is a gift to be shared.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus pauses to notice Matthew. Where others see and dismiss a tax collector as a “sinner” – even an “enemy” – Jesus sees one whose life is valuable and precious, who is beloved by God. Jesus brings healing to the community, as Jesus welcomes Matthew and many others to his table of mercy and love. New connections are formed. Love grows community, which means healing where there had been division or disconnect or indifference.

Jesus pauses to engage with the grieving leader, who urges Jesus to come to his home. On the way, Jesus pauses to heal a woman plagued by disease that has cut her off from the community for twelve long years. Jesus pauses to heal two individuals, and in doing so, Jesus heals by making it possible for them to be reunited with family, friends, and neighbors. Through these actions directed at a few, Jesus brings blessing and joy to the much larger community, because all of life is interconnected.

Pollinator gardens bring blessings that extend far beyond the incredibly important task of feeding the bees and the butterflies. Pollinator gardens have power to connect neighbor to neighbor, creature to creature, earthling to earthling. Life grows into abundant life through restored relationships and through new relationships that lead us deeper into meaningful relationships with God, with one another, and with all of Creation.

Prayer of the Day

Today’s Prayer of the Day could serve as a great outline for one’s sermon:

            O God, you are the source of life and the ground of our being.

By the power of your Spirit bring healing to this wounded world, and raise

us to the new life of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Among the many wounds afflicting us in today’s world is the deep disconnect that many have with nature. Pollinator gardens provide much-needed opportunities to notice and observe, to marvel and delight, and to engage with one another in sharing the gift of life that God provides.

Simply asking, “Where do you see signs of life?” is a great way to invite engagement when visiting a pollinator garden, whether visiting in the spring, summer, fall, or even winter. We may notice bulging seed pods or we may spy little shoots of green poking up and out or we may catch sight of a creature emerging from below ground. As we see pollinators feasting, we can consider the process of bringing a wonderful diversity of food to our own dinner plates. Just as we humans need certain foods to thrive and flourish, so, too, do the pollinators need very particular plants to thrive and flourish so that they can pollinate the plants that we need to thrive and flourish. All of life on this planet is so very interconnected, and the sooner we can grasp that important truth and act in ways that embody that truth, the closer we move towards healing some deep wounds in this world.

Jesus spent so much of his ministry at table, and indeed, in today’s gospel reading, Jesus welcomes all sorts of people to his table of mercy and love. Where there is abundant welcome and inclusion, I like to imagine an abundance of food on the table. We have learned that at least one third of the food on our plates exists because of pollinators. In our mealtime prayers, we often thank those whose hands have worked to bring our food from farm to table. Might we also consider giving thanks for the work of the pollinators who make possible so much of the food on our dinner plates?

Mercy

Healthy relationships are grounded in mercy. That theme of mercy runs throughout all of the appointed readings for this day. The people whom Hosea addressed were placing their trust in military powers rather than in God, whose deep desire is steadfast love. Such steadfast love is all about extending mercy to all of life on this planet we share together.

Psalm 50 reminds us that all of Creation belongs to God, comes from God, is cherished by God. Our faithful response to God’s goodness and greatness is to live in thanksgiving.

The reading from Romans focuses on living in right relationship, and living in right relationship is all about our shared common good. The challenge for many is to look beyond the lines we draw between us and them, because in God’s eyes, “us” includes all people and all creatures and all pollinators and all of creation.

And in the gospel reading, Jesus directly calls for mercy to guide and direct our lives of faithful service, not just some of the time but all of the time. That means that mercy guides all of the choices we make in our everyday lives – choices about how we spend money, how we use our time, what products we buy, what efforts we support, how we differentiate between a want and a need for you and for me and for the pollinators and all of us who consider this planet home.

A Note about the Photos

You are welcome to use any of these photos in whatever way is helpful. All of them were taken on my cell phone at our home in Chippewa Falls, WI. When we moved after living there six years, we needed to say farewell to this garden. I was not nearly as sad as others had anticipated I would be, because I knew that this garden would continue to bring deep blessing and joy to so many in the neighborhood. And now, I choose to invest my energies in the next pollinator garden. Life persists!

Gardening Questions

Should you wish to pose any pollinator garden questions, I would be happy to engage via phone, email or zoom or even in person depending upon location.