One of my favourite verses in the New Testament is 1 John 4:19: “We love because He first loved us.” Another is James 2 where the writer says, “Faith without works is dead.” The same thing can be said about love. Love without deeds is like a garden without tools, a car without gas, a well with no water, a church without a pastor.
Love comes from God because God is love. He sent His only son Jesus into the world that we might live through him. See the important connection: God, Love. Love, God. They are two sides of the same coin. God’s people, the church, are challenged to teach this connection to the entire world. The words of the late Jack Layton pretty well sums up our mission: “Friends… let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”
Back in May 2007, volunteers at First, Sackville, N.S., decided to expand one of our strengths by putting in a potato garden for Feed Nova Scotia. They named the garden HOPE (Helping Others Eat Daily). Armed with rakes, hoes, shovels, seeds, four truckloads of soil, fertilizer, etc., they dug up a huge field behind the recreation centre in Middle Sackville. Later they invited everyone from our church, friends and neighbours to help tend the garden and then harvest the potatoes. The project started slowly but eventually became a big success. In four years we have harvested more than 5,000 pounds of potatoes for families in need.
In 2011, we were encouraged to put in a garden of cucumbers. The cucumbers were hard to grow because of the very wet season. However, persistence and hard work paid off. With donations of money, cucumbers from all kinds of people (including a local farmer’s market) and cukes from our own Hope Garden, we collected and delivered 51 dozen to Feed Nova Scotia.
Next year, with the help of students from Sackville Heights Junior High, we plan to put in a second garden in Lower Sackville. It will be in memory of Emily MacNamara. Emily was a 14-year-old student at the school who passed away in March 2011. In fact, the students already worked on the garden last May but couldn’t plant the potatoes in the field due to wet weather.
In Living Faith’s statement of Christian belief, we read about the church reaching out: “We are here to proclaim Christ in word and deed. Mission is service. A call to help people in need.” Our small church, through the garden, shows God’s love in action as the signs around Hope Garden make clear. Our gardens may be the key to a strong, healthy congregation. It may be the one project that will help us not only become a lively, healthy, growing congregation but it will soon become a well known and respected legend in the community.
There is no doubt God’s love is touching our lives as we share a common interest. And “we” includes children. Let’s get them involved. Two years ago, a five-year-old girl broke down crying because she couldn’t pick potatoes. She had to go with her parents to a wedding in Cape Breton. Last summer, our granddaughter, Lia White was visiting from Hong Kong and spent a hot and sunny afternoon picking weeds from our cucumber patch. It was one of the highlights of her short visit with us.
We are already hearing through the community grapevine: “Oh, First Sackville Presbyterian Church. That’s the congregation that provides potatoes and cucumbers for the needy families each year.”
It’s very important to serve people’s needs outside the four walls or the church will become like a palliative care institution—a place of comfort where pain is eased but also a place to die. We can keep the church alive by service in the community. We must focus our compassion and passion on the people we are serving. Our little church may die but the legend will live on.
God has spoken of love to us through Christ. May our words and deeds say the same to others. We always need to be reminded that doing small things for people in need will make a big difference.
