Their goal was to follow the spirit of 1 Cor 1: 28, 29 – “For God chose things despised by the world, things considered as nothing, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers to be important…” They invited the entire neighborhood to participate, including several gardeners, many of whom were skeptical of the project’s success. Over the year, more and more volunteers contributed their efforts. There was a good sized harvest (for first time gardeners!) and all the grown produce was enjoyed by neighbors and during the house church gatherings. It was beautiful.

In November 2011, that house church gave birth to another house church, which brought in the neighbors who had worked on the garden – now they knew that there was a Christian church behind the garden, and they wanted to be a part of that kind of church – so this new house church is planning in 2012 to expand the veggie garden, and they are dreaming of opening up a new farmers market to invite regional farmers to sell their produce alongside this little urban garden’s yield.

All this, from an abandoned lot.

“God chose the things despised by the world, the things considered as nothing, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important – so no one can boast in the presence of God!”

Raspberries, gooseberries, currents, eggplants, onions, peppers of all kinds.  Peach trees were firming up their fruit and the green beans were right on the verge of being picked.  There is just something right about spending an hour in the hot sun with a straw hat and your hands stained with berry juice.

Picking these fruits made me think a bit about the passage in 1 Cor 1 where Paul mentions that it was he who planted the seed, whereas Apollos watered it, and God made it grow.  There is a memory I have of my mission trips with Let’s Start Talking, a great missions organization doing good work around the world.  One of the leaders of that organization confessed that when there was a baptism of one of the members in the LST ministry, he would think about all those who had come overseas to contribute to the faith of the person he now had the privilege of baptizing.  They planted the seed, someone else watered, and he was seeing the “harvest.”

Back to the raspberry fields, I was amazed at how much it takes to grow a bush of raspberries, and even with all that effort, how much it takes to pick even a single pint of the delicious fruit!  It is just so much effort, and makes you appreciate the fruit of your labor.  We brought our berries to a potluck, and they were snarfed down with lightning speed.  I watched as heaping spoonfuls were dolloped onto plates, including mine.  Could anyone else but the pickers possibly know the work that went into the getting that berry to their plate?  Could I possibly know how much it takes for God to bring someone’s heart to the point of conversion?

Harvesting is such a wonder to behold, as is spiritual transformation – and I’m happy to be a small part it.

But it has me thinking some about where my dollars go.  In a booming economy, it seemed no one minded giving their hard-earned dollars to big companies that moved all the money to one side of the boat – tipping us toward a capsize.  Well, I don’t want to go into the water.

Instead, a few years ago we as a society remembered what it was like to buy things from each other.  Rather than a computerized woman checking out our oatmeal creme pies and CoCo Puffs, now we’re buying locally – handing cash (or in some cases, local currency!) across a fold-up card table in exchange for a heirloom tomato picked this morning in a farm just outside of town.

You know that feeling you get after a cross-country flight?  That’s how your tomato feels too.  …Buying local is great for taste, and your pocket book.

But there’s something I’m adding to the long litany in your purchasing portfolio:

BUY SOCIAL!

I’m finding my friends and family are taking advantage of our current economy along with the rise of Facebook and other sites like it to step into a new venture.  My sister-in-law sells wickless candles, my friend sells gourmet meals, two of my cousins just released their first album (rock and folk), and my mom sells health products.  I’m certain that I can get into the paper goods business, selling all my friends and family toilet paper and such.

Just think – the more connected we all become, the more we become self-marketers, (every status update is a promotion of you.)  If you wanted to make money what better place to advertise than to your friends and family on a place where they spend an average of 45mins a day waiting for you to say something?

Now, no one wants a nag – and we’ll all have to learn to continue to treat our friends and family as real, honest people – something corporations with million-dollar commercials forgot a long time ago.  Maybe with a real, honest social connection, we’ll know how to best keep our “warm market” from becoming “warmed over.”  I love my family and friends more than I want their business.  Much much more!

And it works.  I’m finding that my family and friends involved in this new economy: 1) deeply respect the boundaries of marketing to me and 2) we are engaging each other in new ways as we talk about the products and services they truly believe in!

I love handing money to a local farmer – but I really love handing money to a friend or family member for goods and services.  It is as if I am once again looking at changing my buying habits – why buy from Sam Walton’s family when I can buy from my own?