Jenny organized a fresh meal going to Rebecca’s Place tonight with food from local Justice Gardens. Rebecca’s Place is a home for women transitioning out of homelessness. Most of the food came from home gardens and were brought to our church on Sunday morning.
Last night a friend of mine stopped by with a handful of tomatoes and a cucumber to add to the Rebecca’s Place meal. He told me that was all they had from their garden—three ripe tomatoes and 1 cucumber—and that these vegetables were the “first fruits” of their little plot of justice. Those 4 veggies were placed on my kitchen table for the evening and were there when I woke up yesterday morning. I couldn’t help but think how symbolic those vegetables really are: for Gabe and Anne Williams, who grew them and harvested them as “first fruits” and no doubt prayed while picking them, for Jenny, who stopped by with Augie later that day to pick up those “first fruits” and ended up spending some time with my wife and kids, their lives running into each other as we all try to put our hands to something that we believe in, for me, those 3 tomatoes and that 1 cucumber are symbols of how little bits of faithfulness wind up changing the world…first in our hearts, where we become more attentive to what we can do on this earth to do justice and love mercy, and eventually, out of the abundance of our hearts our words and actions begin to work together to create change.
I think the women at Rebecca’s Place tonight will enjoy eating the good stuff.
I’m hoping Jenny will be able to take some pictures…we’ll keep you posted.
Hi there, I have been following with interest, after hearing about this project through Jenny. It has, as I mentioned in another comment inspired our church to go ahead and break ground (literally), for our own garden. The mission is : feed first those in need. Anyway, I would love to pick your brain sometime. Also, my pastor would really like to call our own garden the Justice Garden as well, as it fits where we are going with it. Would that be a problem with you? We are way over here on the west coast, and while we are doing our own thing, it was definitely inspired by this one.
tracie
Tracie,
Sounds great! Go ahead and call it a justice garden. We’re hoping for “Justice Gardens” to spring up all around the country. We know there are a lot of people out there growing food…as long as the garden is working for the poor, doing justice and extending mercy….it’s our hope that you would join us in creating a network of gardeners, farmers, and community organizers to increase “the production, sharing, and proper use of food.”
We’re working with a designer and web-developer who will be helping us launch our website in the next few months. Then, you’ll be able to “register” your garden as a “Justice Garden” and even update the amount of food (in lbs.) you harvest and give away. Once you register, we’ll send you a packet of information with some brochures to spread the word as well as a Justice Garden’s sign for your garden to let people know more about Justice Gardens.
Thanks so much Tracie. Keep us in the loop on your progress.