This weekend, I experienced ‘Garden Church’.

Garden Church?

If a church is a place for worship, and worship is an expression of praise,  reverence and thanksgiving, then surely a garden with flowers and bees, colour and birds, fruit and grass, trees and bushes, and even bugs and weeds can be a place of worship.

An encounter with Garden Church can nourish the soul and nurture a sense of deep gratitude.
Garden Church can be a gentle reminder of the gift of creation and the miracle of birth, growth, life.

Time spent in Garden Church can be sacred and holy.
It can offer an opportunity for meditation, prayer, reflection, worship, praise, healing, thanksgiving, intercession and gentle, spiritual growth.

Spending time in Garden Church (aka, the back yard and deck with plants in planters) among the colourful flowers, bees, burgeoning strawberries, fruit trees, bugs, shrubs, weeds, the silence, the shining sun and gentle warmth are a healing welcome to my body that seems to ache more and more with each passing year.

Sometimes I experience Garden Church on a walk around the neighbourhood, listening to the calls of the birds, the chatter and joy of the children, enjoying the beauty of flowers and plants in the front yards of my neighbours.

But it’s not just on sunny days that Garden Church calls me.
Overcast and rainy days are also opportunities for Garden Church.
I love it when Garden Church is inspired by nourishing rain, gently watering the plants, grass and flowers in the garden (like these pansies) and bringing beauty to my day.

Garden Church, thank you. 
You deepen my appreciation of nature.
You nourish my understanding of the created order.
You deepen my sense of spirituality in ways that touch my soul.
You bring an awareness of the blessings around me in ordinary ways – often when and where I least expect them.  Truly, I am blessed when I experience Garden Church.