A Time to Grow - Lenten Lessons from the Garden to the Table (Kara Eidson) - A Review

A TIME TO GROW: Lenten Lessons from the Garden to the Table. By Kara Eidson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2022. 130 pages.

                As I write this review, the Christian season of Lent is far off. Pentecost/Ordinary Time will extend for several months before we turn the page and begin a new liturgical year. Nevertheless, it’s never too early to begin planning for the next round of observances. With that in mind, I offer up this review of Kara Eidson’s A Time to Grow. It is a devotional book that speaks to those who value the garden. Since Lent usually begins in the throes of winter, with spring gardening on the mind it may touch the hearts and minds of many.

The Lenten season is designed to serve as a period of prayer and contemplation in preparation for Holy Week. The season begins with Ash Wednesday, a day when we allow ourselves to be marked with a sign of repentance. It is often a season of fasting when we are encouraged to let go of something that might be a barrier to our spiritual growth. While fasting is the normative directive, there are those who suggest that it is better to add something to one’s routine, perhaps a new spiritual discipline.  Whatever the case, we rarely equate Lent with food, except maybe its absence, but perhaps they do go together. So, here we have Kara Eidson’s book of devotions and worship outlines for those who seek to engage in a structured period of Lenten reflection. And the book’s subtitle is indicative of what one will find in the book: Lenten Lessons from the Garden to the Table.

The author of the book, Kara Eidson, is a United Methodist Pastor and writer living in Topeka, Kansas. In this devotional book, she draws on her own experience as a gardener, seeking to make use of food in season. Having lived in nearby Manhattan, Kansas for three years, I can tell you that winter is not a good food-growing period for Kansans. But that's not really the point. Eidson introduces her devotional book noting that when she is in her garden, tending to it, she feels connected to God our Creator. She also reminds us that "at the heart of every human celebration, we find food. It is the common thread of the human experience." (p. 1). That's very true. The challenge for us moderns is that due to the industrialization of agriculture and urbanization, our connections with the creation of our food have been lost. As she points out, the big red strawberries we buy in the store are designed to be transported and don't taste the same as the ones she grows in her own garden.

In this book, which includes weekly reflections and a study guide, as well as worship materials, we are invited to consider the message of gardens and food as the center of one's Lenten journey. She suggests that the materials might be used by a preacher as inspiration for a sermon series that would accompany a congregational study using the book as its foundation. Since many lectionary preachers consider Lent to be a nice compact season where a focused sermon series is warranted, Eidson’s guide will prove helpful. For those of us who do use the lectionary, Eidson has drawn on lectionary texts from across the three cycles of the Revised Common Lectionary, it can be used during any Lenten season.

When it comes to the book’s structure, each week's reflection carries a garden/food-related title/image. Thus, we begin Ash Wednesday with the theme of Soil. She reflects on cultivating soil and the challenge of barren soil, leading to a conversation about motivations and the need for repentance. From there we move on to "Order."  The idea here is that when you begin planning your garden, you have to create a map of the garden. From there, she speaks of mapping as a way of reordering the world! Week two invites us to reflect on the nature of life, with water being the focus of week three, and light being the focus of week four. When she gets to week five, Eidson writes a reflection titled “Restoration.” In this reflection, she tells the story of a blueberry thief, who seemed to take her bushes.  But one of the bushes voluntarily restored itself. This story leads to Eidson’s reflection on the doctrine of the resurrection. Of the resurrection she ponders whether we really believe in the resurrection, that is, if we are afraid of death. Yet, it is the resurrection that gives hope.

Having moved through the five weeks of Lent, we arrive at Holy Week. She offers us a reflection for Palm/Passion Sunday under the theme of Time. She speaks of the whiplash provided by the dueling images of Palm and Passion, and the unpredictability of climate when it comes to planting. She then offers a reflection for Maundy Thursday appropriately titled “Remember.” In this reflection, she invites us to remember gardens and meals (in her case a pecan tree and Thanksgiving dressing that reminded her of her grandparents) as a way of entering into Jesus’ final meal. As for Good Friday, she offers a reflection on fasting, which involves embracing discomfort. Finally, on Easter Sunday, as this is a devotional focused on moving from Garden to Table, she speaks of feasting. In this context, she focuses on the importance of the inclusion of everyone at the table. That especially goes for children.

Eidson’s reflections are deeply spiritual and personal. They are tied to Scripture and the season of Lent. The accompanying liturgical resources that include a brief sermon starter, guide to altar arts, and children’s time, should prove helpful, as will the liturgical elements that include a call to worship/opening prayer and prayer of confession should also prove helpful for Lenten planning. It may be summer, but there’s no time like the present to start planning for the next Lenten observance. Here in A Time to Grow we have a perfect setup for a congregation-wide observance. So, happy gardening!