(These excerpts come from "Community Gardens: An Eden-Oriented Shift in Church Culture" by Derek Maul. It appeared in "e-review," a news service of the Florida United Methodist Church)

This summer, President Barack Obama told attendees at a health forum that America’s First Family is considering setting up a farmers market outside the White House.

The idea, articulated during one of a series of public meetings this August, involves harvesting vegetables from the White House garden, as well as produce from local farmers. It would give Washington, D.C., “more access to good, fresh food,” the President said.

Corn now grows in what used to be an unused acre of wasteland behind Ocoee Oaks United Methodist Church in Orlando. It’s part of the church’s new community garden. Photo by Derek Maul. Photo #09-1318.

President Obama also made reference to escalating health-care costs associated with America’s poor diet. He stressed the fact that such expenditure is largely preventable and that nutrition must become a key element of our mindset when it comes to how we think about health.

The president’s remarks add credence to the burgeoning nationwide community garden movement, an initiative that’s embracing both homegrown organic produce and a wide range of collaborative efforts. It’s an idea that straddles environmentalism, nutrition, ecology, fair-trade practices, hunger and a core element of emergent spirituality…

… About 18 months ago Cason United Methodist Church in Delray Beach was a church in crisis.

“Our spiritual crisis was a direct result in failing to address vital relationships between faith, work, money, stewardship, giving and the capacity to serve (the church’s) people,” said Candy Evans, a local businesswoman with 15 years invested in the congregation.

Candy Evans (left) and Lori Robbins are surrounded by the growing garden they helped launch at Cason United Methodist Church. Photo courtesy of Cason United Methodist Church. Photo #09-1319.

Cason took a critical look at its assets and saw the potential connection between a four-acre vacant lot the church was neglecting and limited green space in the community.

“After seeing a clip on community gardening, we had a light bulb moment,” Evans said. “We knew without a doubt that this was what the church and the community needed.”

The answer was a community garden in a lot that had been vacant for 39 years.

Evans, who coordinates Cason’s elaborate community garden effort, said the church has a great opportunity to be on the cutting edge of a nationwide movement.

“It’s not just the church,” she said, “but every American. We’ve destroyed what we’ve been given. There’s this huge awakening of the sleeping public. It simply doesn’t have to be this way. We can be salt and light; we need to stand up.”…

… In the Orlando area, Ocoee Oaks United Methodist Church was engaged in a different kind of struggle.

“In October of 2008 we were preparing for a revival,” said the Rev. Ernie Post, pastor of the church for the past 15 years. “It was out of that general sense of being a country in crisis. We connected the dots and concluded that the sin we’re facing (as the United States) is greed. The response of the church should not be condemnation, but generosity. The phrase ‘outrageous generosity’ emerged, and ideas bubbled.”The first major event was a giant “Free Yard Sale.” Ocoee Oaks has 400 regular attendees, and the response was overwhelming. Members dealt with their excess and gave away literally tons of good-quality merchandise, making a big splash in the community.

Squash — with its bright yellow blooms — is just one of the many vegetables grown in the Ocoee Oaks garden. Photo by Derek Maul. Photo #09-1322.

Post’s son, Michael, pointed out an unused acre of wasteland behind the church. “I’m going to plant some corn and give it away,” he said. And one thing led to another.

“I told the congregation ‘We’re doing a garden,’ ” Post said. “I had no clue what I was doing. I rattled off a list of things we might need. In 10 days we were given all this stuff: 600 tons of compost delivered, 1,000 feet of fence, tilling equipment, a complete irrigation system, seeds, volunteers, a well.”

Sitting in the congregation was a newcomer to the church, Dave Rieke. “My training was as an agricultural engineer,” he said. “When I heard they were handling all this manure I realized I’d better get involved. There’s a lot we can do to damage the environment; we have to be careful. But now an area that was dead and doing nothing is nice and productive. That’s good for the environment.”

Initially, Post said, city government was less than cooperative.“However, once they realized we were giving the produce away, and not just to church members, everything changed,” he said.

“This is a piece of the larger picture of how we respond to sin,” Post said. “Our message to the community is redemption, not condemnation. So, one answer to the current economic plight is to make everything free. The mayor even came over to say thank you. When we started work on the garden we could have sold tickets to the community. They’d constantly drive by just to see what we were doing”…

… In Delray Beach, Mobley said, for her, the theology of Cason’s community garden is rooted in the Genesis account of creation — the idea of restoration, redemption and a return to the garden where stewardship of the earth is a key element of our relationship to the Creator.

Post finds himself drawn to Ephesians 2:8-9. “That’s where this concept of free hits home,” he said. “ ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’ ”

“Let’s manifest what’s real about faith,” he said. “Let’s show it to people and live by faith as a church.”