October 17, 2021

A Message from our Minister

“Harvesting Love ”

Dear Beloveds,

Our theme this month is Cultivating Relationships.  Cultivate is not a word we usually use in connection with our relationships, be they romantic, friendship, collegial, or even at the level of casual acquaintance.  Cultivating means preparing things to grow well. It’s easier to get healthy, robust plants if you cultivate. Preparing soil and environment optimizes growth.   Cultivating plants results in an abundant harvest of fruit, vegetables, and flowers. Cultivating relationships results in an abundant harvest of trust, loyalty, and love.

There are many ways to cultivate plants. All cultivation seeks an abundant harvest, but some methods of cultivation have different ideas about what constitutes abundance.  Factory farming pumps chemical fertilizer into the soil, genetically modifies plants, and seeks only to produce as much as possible for little cost to maximize profits from the sale of the crop.  Long term soil health, fair wages, fair prices, and the integrity of organic organisms don’t factor in the cultivation at all. “Permaculture” is a term coined by Bill Mollison that means permanent agriculture combined with permanent human culture in a sustainable whole system loop.  According to the Permaculture Research Institute it’s “the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people — providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.”

We can think of cultivating relationships in the same way. Do we cultivate relationships in a utilitarian fashion, thinking only about how others might benefit us? Do we cultivate relationships in a transactional fashion, where we will reciprocate tit for tat, one kindness for another or one slight for another? Or do we try to practice permaculture with our relationships, investing in the healthiest possible relationship even if that means difficult conversations, working through conflict, and accepting the faults of the other so that we can truly harvest love?   

Cultivating relationships is a lot of work, especially if our goal is healthy, thriving, enlivening romantic partnership, friendship, or work environment.  Cultivation takes planning, evaluation, and attention to detail. This month I invite you to learn about ways to be better practitioners of permaculture in terms of relationship with others so that we harvest more kindness, more compassion, and more love. 

Faithfully,

Rev. Tony