In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

            earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

(Christmas hymn, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #294)

In the bleak midwinter, breath exhaled as fog,

herald of spring appears, the seed catalog.

Okay, I should leave the classic hymns alone.  However, in the post office box this week, among the last minute advertising that assures me the perfect Christmas gift awaits and is even now on sale, has come the seed catalog; a word of hope and promise in the bleak midwinter.  Such is the nature of the seed.  What a blessing.

In the Commons plans are underway for the spring.  In recent weeks letters have gone out soliciting from community partners names of people who might want to participate in the work of the community garden.  After the first of the year we will gather to put dates to tasks and details to turning the church lawn into garden.  We also have gained another community partner: IMPACT.  The children in this Mulberry, Indiana after school program will be invited to help plant, tend and harvest at Katie’s Commons.  They will be an important link in the chain of our community’s food security, plus it will be a chance to play in the dirt (win-win).  And finally as I dream by the fire, grant applications are being prepared.  While Katie’s Commons is sponsored by Gloria Dei Church and is given the use of land, water and storage facilities we look to the community and friends for the financial support and the additional resources necessary to be successful.  Grants will be an important part of that mix.

In short (to mix a couple of poetic references) in the bleak midwinter, we in the Commons are trying to make perfect our will, taking no thought of the harvest but only of proper sowing. (Choruses from The Rock, T.S. Eliot)

I wish all who read these words a blessed Advent, a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.