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| Image by Alla Olkhovska |
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A GREETING
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
(Psalm 16:7)
A READING
Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’
(Mark 4:1-9)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
(John 14:27)
TWO SONG LYRICS
It came, a flow'ret bright,
Amid the cold of winter
When half-spent was the night.
Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow,
lies the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose.
- from Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming,
music by Michael Praetorius, English lyrics by Theodore Baker, and
The Rose, words and music by Amanda McBroom and Vince Gill.
VERSE OF THE DAY
The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
(Psalm 34:18)
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| Image by Alla Olkhovska |
Last winter-spring during the Lent devotional project, several times we visited the life and work of Alla Olkhovska, a Ukrainian gardener with a long-cultivated garden filled with rare clematis, peony, phlox and other flowers. As a ‘story of endurance,’ we shared a short documentary about her attempts to keep her garden alive amid bombing in Kharkiv where she lives. Required to stay in Ukraine to uphold family members too ill to travel, she also does not want to desert the garden which is her whole life.
The front line of the conflict with Russia that has been going on for a long time and which re-emerged as renewed war in 2022, is being fought on Alla’s doorstep. She frequently documents the sound of explosions and other warfare that is only worsening in its gravity and devastation. And yet she continues to harvest seeds, meticulously counting them into small plastic bags to send around the world.
All of the photos on this page were taken by Alla, and all of them in the past week. As she faces winter and continued hardship, she never fails to find the beauty in her landscape. Her photography has become as well-known to others as her comprehensive knowledge of rare clematis and other flowers, including a book she wrote on how to raise clematis varieties from seed. In her photographs, the soul of the earth itself seems to be released and revealed. As the bombs fall around her, and the seams of the house she lives in (that has belonged to the family for generations), start to crack and fall apart from the frequency and proximity of explosions, air alerts and drones, she shares her fears, while still always focused on the flowers.
Today’s music is a mash-up of two songs about roses: the German Christmas carol, “Es ist ein rose entsprungen,” (Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming) and the pop song, The Rose. The lyrics for the two songs offer overlapping visions: even in the coldest and emptiest, most frightening times of our lives, seeds of new life are stirring deep in the earth.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus teaches that seed will only grow under the right conditions and names the ways in which it is possible for seed to fail. As a lesson in cultivating our own faith and that of others, there are many ways to learn from the story. But what do we do when even the most loving attention to seed is met with the human-generated desire to thwart and kill — raining down everywhere around it? How can we do the hard work of anti-war activism, so that the seeds of new life can thrive where they are most needed?
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A STORY OF HOPE
Over the past year, since the short documentary "Gardening in a War Zone" was made and a New York Times article picked up the story, Alla has gained an international following for her gardening knowledge and exceptional photography. You can find her work and her seeds catalogue (as well as her book) here. When her grandmother was killed by a bombing-related heart attack in the spring, she found it hard to post or share as she had been doing. Going silent for weeks, her worried followers began to post images to encourage her: pictures of her seeds taking root and sprouting in places all over the world. The show of support eventually moved her to respond. More recently, as the very hard winter has set in and the war has escalated, she has focused on winter photographs of her garden, and this self-portrait, taken at night -- as she looks on to the garden below. On the night before the longest night of the year, how do we help foster light and life where in turn new life is dearly nurtured?
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| Image by Alla Olkhovska |
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LC† Seeds of Hope is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!