Entering the Garden

"Entering a garden is like passing through a mystical gate." 

Thomas Moore, The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life.

If you have entered the Restoring Eden Project Contemplative Garden recently, you would have seen a new sign on the double doors. The sign reads:

Restoring Eden Garden Safety and Usage

All are welcome to use the Restoring Eden Contemplative Garden area outside the narthex.
This is an area of quiet prayer, reflection and fellowship.
The vegetable garden is a working garden. 
 For safety, children and youth must be supervised at all times.

 Thank you.

The entrance of the garden is more than a location. This a sacred threshold where the exuberant joy of children, the contemplative thoughts of prayer and fellowship unite with the Holy Spirit in shared space. For some it is or will become a type of inner sanctum. For others it is or will become a colorful, fragrant  haven when the joy of children will hop from slate to slate chasing butterflies. The garden is a space where all who enter can be more fully open to a personal movement of the Spirit while respecting the community around them. 

Come, enter the garden joyfully.

Come, enter the garden prayerfully.

Come, enter the garden, soaking in the warmth of the sun...God's embracing hug.

Come and enter the garden and dance with God.

"Behind the soulfulness of pure, saturated light and color, as best see in the myriad flowered faces of nature, is the beautiful face of God smiling down in blessing upon us."

Narana