Extravagant Bounty

Live Oak, April 8, 2007

Flower Communion Sunday

Rev. Kathleen Ellis

Did you go outside last week? Before winter came back for a few days? How could you not, when the longer hours of daylight, beautiful weather, and the splendor of Spring beckoned us out of our rooms. Spring Fever is not the term for allergic sneezing; it’s really for the restless urge to get outside and look! Who knew we would look at sleet and snowflakes and freezing wind and rain on an April Easter weekend?

“Look!” says Robert Fulghum. It’s a most important word that refers to our minds as well as our eyes. Open your eyes! Vines, weeds, flowers, and grasses spill over the borders of stone or fence. Our eyes feast upon a range from the brightest of white to a riot of color to the centers of black-eyed susans. Flowers bloom at our feet, some in mounds or reaching out tall and thin; some are prickly, others velvety, from cactus to lamb’s ear.

Let’s take just the bluebonnet, our Texas state flower. Actually, there are five varieties here, and all of them are included in the legislation naming the state flower. Texas is a big state, and different varieties prevail in one location or another. They are drought tolerant and will thrive in any soil as long as it drains well. They love 8-10 hours of direct sunlight every day. They do not like pill bugs. Plant them in September because they need cold weather to develop strong roots. Winter rain has brought bluebonnet season into prime time. Look closely and you’ll notice seedpods along the stems that will continue to swell until they pop out several feet away. Bluebonnets produce 13,500 seeds per pound, 35 pounds per acre. Such extravagant bounty!

This is the season for kittens and cows, nestlings and other newborns. The sounds of birds, kids, and dogs ring out through the neighborhood, in parks and playgrounds and among the trees. Town Lake is teeming with rowers and kayakers; the shore is crowded with strollers and joggers, artists and photographers.

It’s the season of greens, peas, peppers, succulent and tasty asparagus, avocado, berries, broccoli, papayas, and mangoes. Any Farmers Market will entice you with abundant color and texture. Spring comes in fits and starts with blustery winds and cooling rains. Farmers are well aware of the gradual seasonal changes, but in the city we’re often taken by surprise.

The weather in Columbus, Ohio, is a couple of months behind ours. So it’s fair to say here that, borrowing from Rodgers and Hammerstein, “April’s bustin’ out all over . . . Look around! Look around! Look around!”

Everything finally burst into bloom in Columbus, but April can be the cruelest month. Winter came back again and dropped the temperature down to 23 degrees last Wednesday! My sister had picked every blooming thing she could find, and covered as much as possible. And on Thursday it snowed! Not a beautiful sight in her eyes, and I told her she should just move down here. She’s the kind of person who gets through the winter by planning what to plant in the spring.

Here in the Austin area, I’ve noticed bursts of human energy with all the work parties—on the labyrinth, in the kitchen, on the playground, all through the building, and especially Hands on Housing. Ginger Lichtenstein, a member of the appropriately named Wildflower Church, commented that she had never seen so many people moving around so fast and getting things done so quickly. Where did that energy come from? Apparently the blood is flowing in these old bones, just as the sap is rising throughout the world of plants. Poet May Sarton was a Unitarian Universalist. Her life continually brought together human aging and gardening. Toward the end of her life she wrote this poem,

"The House of Gathering"

“If old age is a house of gathering, Then the hands are full.

“There are old trees to prune And young plants to plant, There are seeds to be sown.

“Not less of anything But more of everything To care for, To maintain, To keep sorted out, A profusion of people To answer, to respond to.

“But we have been ripening To a greater ease, Learning to accept That all hungers cannot be fed, That saving the world May be a matter Of sowing a seed Not overturning a tyrant, That we do what we can.

“The moment of vision, The seizure still makes Its relentless demands.

“Work, love, be silent, speak.”

On Easter Sunday every year, we celebrate this abundance, profusion, proliferation, excess, and extravagant bounty. We celebrate a way of life that restores our belief in renewal and resurrection. We do what we can to sow seeds of beauty, compassion, and justice. In just a few minutes when the flowers you have brought with you into community, will be chosen by someone else in recognition of the beauty of each individual life. Count your blessings in color, laughter, flavor, texture, and fragrance. Spread the joy!

Amen Shalom Blessed Be