XXXI.
I COME TO THE GARDEN ALONE
(4/14)
Jesus said to her “Mary.” (John 20:16)
Virtually every month when I ask for favorite hymns, “In the Garden” is a request. We can identify these words with the death of a loved one, parent, or friend: “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still is on the roses, and the voice I hear falling on my ear, the son of God discloses, and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own, and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has other known.”
This morning I chanced upon a version of “In the Garden” by Johnny Cash. Feel free to play it this morning – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsnXp718L88.
Neither Mary of Magdala’s experience or Johnny Cash’s is for the faint hearted. Mary of Magdala is devastated at the death of her beloved companion and teacher, the one who knew her heart. Johnny Cash struggled with addiction and temptation. Yet he found God in the ring of fire. Both knew that it is more important to know what God believes about you than what you believe about God. God believes you are worthy. God believes you matter. God believes that you are beautiful and gifted. God calls each of us by name – not just “Mary” or “Johnny” but “Bruce” and “Jack” and “Susan.”
In the garden, God calls us be name. Alone in our grief and fear, our concern about what will happen to us in this time of pandemic, God is with us. We don’t know the future, but we trust that God is with us. As the apostle Paul says, whether we live or die, we belong to God, and God will never leave or forsake us.
Listen in the quiet for a voice that speaks in sighs too deep for words. Listen also in the noise of your anxieties for a voice of comfort that will never abandon us. In the garden of our fears and hopes, God walks with us and talks with us, and tells us that we are God’s own.
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Loving God, you are in the Garden with me. May I hear you calling my name and giving me your peace. Let me know that I am your own. Amen.
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