Saint Mark's Church

On an abnormally warm June day blue smoked billowed skyward as I exited the church. Around the corner a red and wet-with-sweat Terry Moore manned the grills searing the piles of burgers and dogs folks now inside were soon to enjoy. Just the day before a group of devoted Saint Mark’s gardeners had joined me in this same space to brave the heat and add some new perennials. As we finished our work around midday a sweltering wedding party began mulling into the gardens as Scottish bagpipes blared from underneath our Southern Magnolia. Earlier in the week I stopped in for some light garden tending and as twilight bathed the garden in faint light a group of young people gathered near the parish house steps enjoying the summer air.

This is but a few days in the life of our gardens at Saint Mark’s. As many stop to admire our beautiful roses, most taking photos, some taking a bit more, J I look forward to the months ahead when some of the nascent perennials we planted will be established, un-wilted and ready to vie for the attention of those seeking a respite from the hard edge of the city.

I think of our garden as a social space… as a natural open set of arms that extend into urbanity. I think our garden makes us more approachable and gives us a unique way to engage passers by. I think of our garden as a salve to an often hard-edged routine of appointments and obligations. I think of our garden as a free-form expression to the ministry we provide in ritual and sacrament and tradition within our church walls. The universality of the garden ministers to all in subtle and healing ways.

These past few weeks I’ve spoken not only with fellow Saint Markians but strangers, acquaintances and friends over the gates. Quite a few people have told me how much they appreciate the gardens. Some have gone on to say they have been changing their walking patterns to enjoy the gardens more often. This is all very encouraging to me and I hope it is to you. A well-planned garden brings interest all year round and at best magnifies the architecture that surrounds it. Why shouldn’t the blooms of our gardens also magnify the many miracles God works inside our church walls and billow them out like the blue smoke of a barbeque. With grace and perhaps some providence our garden can provide a sensory invitation to not only change a walking pattern to pass our church but change a walking pattern to enter it.

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Miniature Hollyhock in bloom in the South Garden | Photo by Libby Espey