May 20thFive Minutes on Friday #28
SEEDS and LIBRARIES
“At the public library in Mystic, Connecticut, a card catalog that formerly stored book due dates now holds endless packets of seeds. There’s eggplant and kale, marigolds and zinnias; more than 90 different types of seeds available for anyone with a card to take home and plant.
“The library has become so much more than just a place to come in and get books,” said Leslie Weber, the youth services associate at the Mystic & Noank Library. “It’s becoming a community center, and the seed library fits right into that. It gets people outside, gets children involved with gardening, and we’re pushing to address food insecurity with it.”
The seed library in Mystic is just one of a number that have sprouted up around the country over the last decade — including in Georgia, California, Colorado, Arizona, and Maine — as libraries turn to seeds to help them meet the daily needs of the communities they serve in new ways. By offering patrons free seeds, the libraries can also combat hunger insecurity and biodiversity loss — all while building community resilience.” [see full article at https://www.eater.com/23043915/seed-library-free-seeds-gardening ]
I haven’t heard of this happening in Canada but it seems a good idea.
HERE!
The Wild Geese
Horseback on Sunday morning,
harvest over, we taste persimmon
and wild grape, sharp sweet
of summer's end. In time's maze
over fall fields, we name names
that went west from here, names
that rest on graves. We open
a persimmon seed to find the tree
that stands in promise,
pale, in the seed's marrow.
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear,
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye
clear. What we need is here. [Wendell Berry]
So often we look ‘over the fence’ hoping for greener pastures or better options. In a time when it seems like we have diminished resources, energy, and courage, Berry’s poem reminds us that ‘what we need is here.’ Paul said it in his own way in 1 Corinthians 1:
4 I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. 5 Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. 6 This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. 7 Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SUNDAY – Living the Questions
This week we conclude our series responding to questions you have asked. Our questions are two: Christians confess belief in a God-in-three persons, the Trinity. Jews confess ‘God is Lord. God alone.’ How do we put these two confessions together?
Our second question has to do with the relationship among faith, doubt, and certainty. The following interview speaks to this question:
Francis Collins recently retired as head of the National Institute of Health (U.S.). An accomplished scientist he is also a person of deep faith, and is unapologetic about it. Read an interview here….