Just east of the center of the Camper Garden stands a fig tree not even two feet high. It produced figs this past summer even at its young age and small stature. It reminds me in some ways of our summer campers, who likewise, appear young and not yet fully mature. Yet, their lives have already begun bearing the fruit of life in Christ.

Each week this past summer, the Camper Garden served as one of the sites for worship and small group discussions. One Tuesday morning, as we gathered around the garden’s edge, we read Genesis 2:15 (NIV):

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Standing there surrounded by the bounty of the garden - the squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, green beans, blackberries, basil, rosemary, and potatoes – it was clear just how connected God intended his creature, man to be to the rest of creation. Adam was put in the garden to “work it and take care of it” or to “till it and keep it” (NRSV). Eugene Peterson translates this passage in The Message to say that Adam was set down in the Garden to “work the ground and keep it in order.”

We continued our discussion at the edge of the garden. We are made so that we can work the land, take care of the land, and keep God’s creation in good order. Work! What do you mean, God called us to work? I could see confusion on the campers’ faces. Yet, we pressed on with the text. This is Genesis 2. This is the story we tell about creation before the fall, before Adam and Eve sin and find themselves with a one way ticket out of the Garden. Work – good work – was part of God’s plan for humans when everything was ordered just as God meant it. Life before the fall included the good, hard work of farming.

So, we farm at Chestnut Ridge. We farm to live into our story and our calling to work the land and take care of it. It is life-giving work when it is done reverently; it is holy work that helps to make us whole. The miracle of life from a seed or fruit from a plant still inspires awe and gratitude even in a generation that is technologically and scientifically savvy. Something about being in the garden connects us to our story of faith, to our Good Creator, and to one another (Hey! Can you bring some water over here?). It demonstrates in tangible, wonderfully delicious ways how God sustains us, blueberry by blueberry, one shovel of dirt and compost at a time. And, it changes us so that when we pray God to “give us this day our daily bread” we have a much deeper appreciation for what we ask.

Food. Faith. Farming. This is our story: that from the beginning we would be God’s creatures who would tend the land, be sustained by its bounty, and walk each day with the Lord. Come, walk with us!

From the Center of the Garden,
Rev. Rhonda Parker
Director at Chestnut Ridge