A Story of Grass and Guns
It was a beautiful, early Saturday morning…
I went out to check the garden, coffee in hand.
The birds were singing…a couple of them came near and eyed me hopefully… wondering if I was going to delight them by turning over the earth.
A moment. A time to let the air fill your lungs, to soak in the beauty, to feel God’s peace.
And then? The sound of gasoline combustion.
And I went inside.
What if I told you that 1/3 of drinkable water in the United States is used to grow a crop none of us can eat?
A crop that thwarts biodiversity. That many feed with fertilizers that cause algae blooms. Or cover with pesticides that many argue are dangerous to us or to our pets.
A crop that we seem to need to put anywhere there’s a little space.
I’m talking, of course, about grass.
The lawn came into its own in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. If you like old-timey movies based on stories by the Brontes, Austin, or Elliot, you see them.
What you don’t see is the labor and enormous cost of maintaining them. And the separation of the wealthy, who strolled upon them, and the poor (who made part of their meager living by cutting them—by hand).
But with the invention of the mower in 1830 and the improvements that followed, these patches of heaven became attainable to more and more of the population…until they became expected.
To the point that now, regulations and HOAs and old fashion peer pressure assure that we all keep our patch of green to certain standards.
But WHY?
As human beings, we ask, “Why God?” about a lot of things. (And sometimes the lack of a “great answer” to our questions becomes the reason to deny God’s existence.)
But this time, I think we need to ask “Why?” of ourselves.
Lately I’ve found myself looking around. And if you look around, it’s kind of shocking how grass is everywhere! And not just in terms of fields to play in or golf courses. But cemeteries, around stores, municipal buildings, schools, between highways, and, of course, homes. Almost anything we build gets its plot of grass.
And, by the way, I like having a yard, even if all I do to mine is mow it. But why so much? Why is it the answer to every spare space we create?
And I think most of the answer is, we just don’t think about it.
It’s expected. It’s what is done.
And if we think about it, and are honest about it, the whole thing is kinda tyrannical.
At my church, we have a little pollinator garden. The gift of a beloved member I affectionately call “Mother Nature” and of our Girl Scout troop.
Not everyone is crazy about it. They think it looks like a mess…
BUT it hosts a remarkable range of wildlife. Not just pollinators. Even salamanders live in there (and where the heck did they come from?).
It’s a tiny tribute to what happens if you let a patch of soil grow what grew here in South-central PA. before we bought our beloved John Deeres. (And I really love mine.)
We are, in the end, co-creators with God. And I think there are times we forget that, go with the flow, and don’t question.
We cry out, “God! Why is this world such a mess?” And never think about what, more often than not, is the real answer.
We’ve taken our free will, our freedom to make our own choices, and made it that way.
We, and others, made the mess. And we, with God’s help, need to fix it.
Talking about grass is a little silly, but it is a reminder, God lets us, as people, create much of the world we live in.
And remembering that is important when we talk about what’s really important.
We continue to have horrible, horrible school shootings. Each time it happens, we find ourselves bowing are heads or crying out to heaven, “Can it ever stop?”
Of course, there are also cries of, “Where was God? Why didn’t God stop this?”
Why does God allow war? Why does God allow starvation? Why doesn’t God step in?
Why? Why? Why?
But we have to understand: We make choices. That’s our God-given gift. And we live in the world we and others have made.
With the gift of free-will? God has largely given us the keys to the car.
And sometimes what people create is awful.
Can God step in? I believe so. But mostly? God steps in through us. We are God’s hands and feet.
The phrase “thoughts and prayers” is getting tramped on right now. Because tragedy occurs, some say it, and it rings hollow because there’s no action.
And in our world where the news-cycle lasts about 15 seconds, there’s no doubt some say it knowing another story will grab our attention and the tragedy, at least in the minds of most, will pass.
But prayer, which can be done a lot of different ways, is the basis, I think, for change, and for creating a world in line with the vision of God.
Because prayer changes us.
Living life in connection to God? Means remembering what God wants and acting to bring that into being.
Whether that’s a little patch of earth we set aside that will belong to nature, or a society that cares for the ill, protects its children, and lives in peace.
And yes, some of that is easy, and a lot of it isn’t.
And until the work is done, we find God sharing our grief, promising resurrection, and reminding us that one day, the kingdom will come.
Until then, as Mister Rogers reminded us, we’ll also see God in tragedy in those who don’t run away, but who rush in to help. Until then we also see God by looking for the helpers. Until then, we try to be the helpers, answering God’s call.
Living life in connection to God? Means remembering what God wants and acting to bring that into being.
Some of that is easy, and a lot of it isn’t.
But no job is out of reach for us, if we will work with God.
