Whiteville, NC

From Elsie Campbell:

I am sending an article from the local paper concerning our biblical garden in the making. We continue to add to our garden. We have just added two benches and more plants as the season dictates. Other plans are on the drawing board. We look forward to this being an ongoing project. I will keep in touch as we progress. Thanks for the encouragement.

God Bless

Elsie Campbell, Senior Warden

Grace Episcopal Church and Christ the King Lutheran Church.

From the News Reporter, November 5, 2007, p. 6A

Lifestyles Section

Whiteville Garden Club members heard a program on plans for a biblical garden at their October meeting. The first phase of the garden has been planted, and members viewed it at Grace Episcopal Church where Christ the King Lutherans also meet.

Elsie Campbell told garden club members that Ruth Glass mentioned the idea to the priest, the Rev. Anne Natoli, who ordered a "Guide for Planning Your biblical Garden," by the Reu Marsh Hudson-Knapp.

Campbell became interested in the garden and ordered programs written for the Garden Club of North Carolina and more materials from Hudson-Knapp. Susan Wood planted a garden to help with a drainage problem, not realizing she was planting a beginners' biblical garden.

Late Blooming Flowers

"All through the Bible, trees and flowers, fruits and vegetables play prominent parts in the story of God and God's people, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, " Campbell said. She then took garden club members on a journey through some of the events of the Bible when plants and trees become involved in the story of God and God's people.

The Tree of Knowledge was planted in the midst of the Garden of Eden. "And the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put man whom he formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:8-9)

"Popular tradition believes, hat it was an apple," Campbell said. "Many botanists hold that it was an apricot. Yet the Bible does not identify the tree, except for its unforgettable role in our downfall."

CampbeI1 noted that the first tree mentioned is the fig, and that Adam and Eve used fig leaves as clothing. Later the prophets understood the fig as a symbol of peace. In the New Testament Jesus drew his followers' attention to plants that s bloomed abundantly as signs of God's abiding care. Flowers like chamomile, used to make dye and tea, were among these Biblical wildflowers, and Jesus made reference to lilies of the field.

"Shasta daisies are among the many cousins that would have been lilies of the field in the Holy Land, reminding people of God's unending care for us," Campbell said. "Chrysanthemums crown, anemones and wind flowers all graced the Bible's natural world, constantly blessed by God. So did delphinium, hibiscus and lupines."

Other plants she discussed were violets, grapes, the palm tree, the centaurea plant, which is a relative of the thorns that were made into a crown and placed on Jesus' head to mock and hurt him.

"Throughout his life, and especially in his passion, Jesus joined us in every emotional pain of the Christian walk," Campbell said. "He never drew back from our pain, even unto death. After his crucifixion death, those who loved Jesus anointed his body with aloe and spices and placed it in a tomb.

"Three days later to their surprise and delight they I discovered that he was no longer dead," she continued. “He lives! Poppies, like those that grow in Israel outside the Garden Tomb, can lift up their heads in Whiteville in our garden as well, telling us once again He Lives! So shall we, through faith.

Cockscomb adds color.

"We have a lot of planning a and work to do. We are excited about our new adventure. We look forward to our Biblical Garden at Grace Episcopal Church and Christ the King Lutheran offering the same comfort, faith and pleasure to those who observe it as the Biblical Garden at the First Congregational Church in Fair Haven, Vt., along with their pastor, the Rev. Marsh Hudson-Knapp. Rediscover the stories in which real plants and real people play a part. Seeing these plants, touching them, and watching them grow and mature offer signs of God's continuing lively presence among us."

Campbell said information she taIked about was taken from Hudson-Knapp's book "Plants in a Biblical Garden."

Susan Wood spoke on plants that she has already planted in the garden and Lisa Richey shared information on The Campbell Room at Grace Church, dedicated to the late Joe Campbell.