My Theology Includes the Eating of Weeds
a devotional for welcoming the stranger
Welcome Back to The Wildroot Parables
Thank you for joining us!
I’m excited to bring you all another devotional for the week ahead! And this one has a special difference: per my mom’s gentle request, who loved the inclusion of my original photos in my Instagram posts back in the day, I’ve used one of my own photos for this post instead of a stock image. Thanks for the loving push, Mom! ♥
I’d like to pepper my own images throughout future devotionals, as well. Taking photos—especially of the natural world—is something I do enjoy, and it would be great to have an incentive to keep it up!
Also: THANK YOU for your warm reception of last week’s post and your participation in sharing your requests for prayer! Feel free to share in the comments if you have any updates to last week’s requests.
Blessings to all!
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And now, on to the devotional…
Christ, The Green Man
a poem for an overgrown garden
The theology of the garden is a theology of a trickster-god: strangers and friends in a mingled, leaf-crowned sun-praising crowd. And who shall name the poison? And who shall plant in peace? Grace is green, and wisdom wild; awake, we harvest the fruit of welcome. We eat from the body of the Green Man and find communion, a verdant knowing from the tree on which He bled.
Most gardeners know and love the “volunteer”, a plant that appears in the garden without being planted on purpose. Sometimes it’s a seed dropped by a bird or tracked in on an animal’s fur. Sometimes it was left over in homemade compost and just didn’t quite break down all the way. And while technically speaking a volunteer can be any unexpected plant, usually gardeners refer to useful or beautiful plants when they speak of volunteers. An unexpected potato sprout in a squash bed, or a patch of flowers sprinkled among the carrots.
In many ways the opposite of a volunteer is a weed. Something unexpected, unidentified, and unwanted.
This year, I’ve been contending with quite a few of these latter types of volunteers in our garden. They were tracked in on the wheels of our neighbor’s tractor when he showed up to till the ground earlier this spring.
I’ve grown used to the usual suspects of the weeds in this yard: dandelion, cat’s ear, grasses of various types, shotweed, clover…so when the weeds from our neighbor’s garden showed up, I didn’t recognize them at all, and that made me surprisingly nervous. Strange sprouts, strange leaves, strange blooms, odd growth habits. What is this? Who are you?
However, one of the new arrivals was one I recognized: lamb’s quarters, also known as goosefoot. While it’s considered an invasive weed and often demonized by major agriculture, lamb’s quarters is a delicious wild green. Every bit as nutritious as spinach and (in my opinion) more flavorful, you can use lamb’s quarter both raw in salads and cooked just like you would any substantial leafy green.
Lamb’s quarters was a friendly face, and its presence made me wonder if any of the other strange plants were also edible.
So I started a little journey, taking pictures of the various wild invasives and cross-referencing them in my books and online to figure out what they were. Sure enough, I was able to identify at least two more well-known edible plants among the throng: amaranth and shaggy soldier (also known as guascas, a popular Central American green).
Now that I could put names to faces, I slowly but surely started harvesting and cooking with these new plants, finding ways to incorporate them into our diet. And now, it’s hard for me to imagine our summer kitchen without them; I’m looking forward to them re-seeding and returning next year.
They’ve moved from strangers to friends in a matter of weeks.
I admit, it is very easy for me to see every strange thing in my life as a weed. Unusual and unexpected circumstances, changes, relationships, philosophies…I am set in my ways and habitual. I don’t really look hard enough to see the face of a friend before I react with anxiety, suspicion, and fear.
But even so, my theology includes the eating of weeds, welcoming the unusual into my home and onto my plate. I must always remind myself that the strange things can carry unique wisdom and grace with them. Sometimes what feels like something to fear is actually a friend, waiting to be identified, recognized, named, and treated with respect so we can learn from them.
It’s true that some plants are toxic, and some strangers are, too. But Christ—Lord of the Garden—lurks among the volunteers, a humble force of life and nourishment hidden in the guise of a newcomer.
Waiting to be recognized as a friend.
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Such wise words here! I love the reminder that not all strangers -- whether plants or events in our lives - are necessarily bad and even the unfamiliar can be nourishing! We've been getting to know the volunteers in our yard, and have let several of the native species do their own thing and the birds absolutely love it.
I'm happy to report that after my prayer request last week about our senior kitty's loud meows keeping me up at night, she's been less intense this week :-) I've slept much better!
A non-joke saying of Confucius that i've always loved is this: "the beginning of wisdom is calling things by their proper name". Great analogy to the weeds of life which are merely awaiting identification.
Prayer request--this week i'll be dog sitting for a friend. I love animals, but I have never been responsible for dogs. This will be a fun challenge, yet a little spiritual reinforcement will be welcome. I'll be praying for the other requests in this thread!