Dear Saints in Santa Fe and other far-off places,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who never stopped talking about love and compassion.

We need to plant seeds.

I am one generation from the farm.  My mom was the eighth of ten children on a 500-acre farm in central Ohio and she knew every crop by sight.  On car rides through the countryside, we would ask mom what was growing in the fields, and she always had a ready answer.

It’s good to know plants by name.  I know this better now after last week’s blog about my quest for the smell of honeysuckle.  I took a photo of the bush on that San Anselmo hill below the seminary buildings and showed it to a friend.  “Oh, that’s jasmine!” she tells me like mom would have done with crops.  Jasmine?  All these years and I didn’t know it.  Jasmine?  Really?

Yes, it’s good to know plants by name, but I think it’s more important to know seeds.  We don’t often see them and probably couldn’t tell one from another, but we know what happens when we are careless with the kinds of seeds we plant, like the seeds of discord and hatred, division and lies, mistrust and trauma.  Our culture has become quite proficient at this, and these plants are thriving, their seeds being carried and sowed across our land.

So, today I suggest we plant different seeds, seeds that grow love for the “other,” anyone and anything outside of our own self-interest, anything that needs attention and care, a listening ear, a gesture of compassion.

Let’s start with our children and youth.  We are going forward with the Infant Care Center on the third floor because there is a huge need in Santa Fe for such care. Yes, it will replace the Moore Conference Room and the Youth Room but every time I think of this new space, I think of the young families who can rest assured their infants are being nurtured and cared for by our Child Development Center staff.  Remember, we are planting seeds.

And, in the same breath, we are building a new space for our children and youth across the hall.  Planting seeds so they can grow and feel loved and cared for and supported.  Is there anything more important than this?

You are holding seeds in your hands this very moment.  Will you plant them now?  And if not now, when?

Planting seeds, you see, is a spiritual discipline, can be quite difficult, and always biblical.  Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land, but he never set foot in it.  The prophets suffered tremendously by proclaiming their message but never saw days of peace and hope.  Jesus lived a life of love but died at the hands of hate.  Why should it be any easier for us?

Let us, then, plant seeds knowing we will probably not enjoy the shade of these trees, witness the beauty of its branches, or delight in their smell.  But we do so anyway.  Not for us and our own desires at this moment, but for a world that so desperately needs it from this day forth, seed by seed, plant by plant, field by field, child by child.

Grace and peace,

Harry