Once again I’m sitting in my garden admiring the glorious and very tall pear tree in my neighbour’s yard. Later in the summer some of the fruit will land on my side of the fence, usually good food for critters and insects. I’ve often reflected on this fruit tree and the many fruit trees in gardens across Toronto. Unless we are very active fruit pickers, most of this fruit goes to waste, and so my attention was caught by a web site:
www.notfarfromthetree.org
Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labour and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy, my burden is light.” As we move toward a more low-key lifestyle and some Sabbath-time rest, some folks are gearing up for a busy season. At not far from the tree last summer, 700 volunteers and 8 staff picked 228 fruit trees in Toronto—that’s 19,695 lbs of fruit!
Of all that fruit picked, 1/3 goes to the tree owner, 1/3 goes to the volunteers, and a final 1/3 goes to food banks and shelters, a win-win-win for everyone! As they say on their web site, they are stopping hunger in its tracks with fresh and healthy food, addressing climate change with hands-on community action, and building community by sharing the abundance of our urban ecology.
But here’s the catch . . . last year they were only able to harvest 1/4 of the trees registered which is still only a fraction of the fruit trees in Toronto. One estimate suggests that Toronto trees produce 1.5 million lbs of fruit, most of which goes to waste.
Perhaps Jesus was speaking to busy, stressed, middle-class disciples when he said, “Come to me . . . and I will give you rest.” Or, perhaps Jesus was talking to those who carried the heavy burden of poverty, malnutrition, and marginalization. Either way, we have an opportunity contribute to this innovative program.
To donate: http://www.notfarfromthetree.org/about
To register a tree, volunteer, receive a newsletter, or register to receive fruit as a food program: http://www.notfarfromthetree.org/contact-us
May God’s Spirit be with you!
Shalom, Abigail
Summer Reflections
While you are on vacation, sitting on a dock dangling your toes in the water or relaxing under a shady tree, take a moment to breathe in God’s spirit with these summer worship materials:
Summer Take-Away
Family Activity here
A Note of Thanks
Thanks to everyone for the fond wishes, cards and your generosity the past few weeks. I truly appreciated your kind words and the chance to reminisce - even if it was only two short years. Opportunities come and go and I'm thankful I was given the opportunity to journey with you. My best wishes to Beach United as you continue to transform and create a vision for an exciting ministry here in the beach.
Sincerely, Douglas Brownlee
HeartBeat Hiatus
We will be taking a Sabbath from producing our weekly newsletter during July and August and will resume in September. If you have an important announcement, please send it to Karen Dale & Abigail Johnson for inclusion in this weekly eSpirit message.