Saturday, September 28, 2013

Buying Land During a Siege...

FOR SALE


We'll gather at the church Sunday at 4 p.m. and go up to Judd's Peak to eat snacks, play some yard games (Bocci ball etc), let our imaginations work on the clouds while we lie on our backs and talk about doing dumb things for divine reasons. Our scripture follows below...Jeremiah 32:1-15 (also see Jeremiah 29)
So just bring snacks, we'll be traveling light and getting home early.

Oct 6 we'll meet at 1:30 and carpool down to Harmon Field to celebrate World Communion Sunday with other communions from our county. Following our worship celebration there, we will get info on the Foothills Crop Walk to fight hunger and poverty at home and abroad.

Oct 13  We'll travel down to Columbus to hear a speaker talk about what we can do to address the devastating issues of poverty confronting our community today.


Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, ‘Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; and he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I attend to him, says the Lord; though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?’
 Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of theLord.
 And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

From http://anathothgarden.org
In 2005 Bill King was murdered at his bait and tackle store down the road from the current community garden site. In response,Cedar Grove United Methodist Church  held a prayer vigil for healing and peace at the site of the murder. At the prayer vigil two visions came together: Scenobia Taylor, an African-American woman, had a vision to donate 5 acres of her family’s land to the church for the healing of the community; Rev. Grace Hackney, the pastor of the prodominately white church, was exploring ways that the community could reconcile with the land by growing food sustainably. 

  


Due in large part to the skill and dedication of our first director, Fred Bahnson, and the amazing efforts of neighbors from all across the region, Scenobia’s and Grace’s vision grew into Anathoth Community Garden. Named after the place in the story of Jeremiah 29[and 32], where Jeremiah purchases a field and urges the Israelites in exile to make peace by planting gardens,  Anathoth has a vision of holistic reconciliation, in which relationships with all creatures are redeemed to their fullness, to shalom.

Our mission at Anathoth is to cultivate peace by using regenerative agriculture to connect people with their neighbors, the land, and God.

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