Visitors feel closer to God in church’s Peace Garden

By Linda M. Linonis

Peaceful place provides outside space for prayer, meditation and reflection.

COLUMBIANA — Many gardeners will tell you there’s something about tilling the soil, planting flowers and watching the bounty blossom that has more to do with feeling close to God than feeling lucky about having a green thumb.

Churches decorated with resplendent stained-glass windows and impressive woodwork are wonderful inside sacred spaces. But more places of worship are incorporating outdoor sites earmarked for prayer, reflection and meditation into their landscape.

When the old parsonage at Jerusalem Lutheran Church, 415 S. Main St., was torn down some 40 years ago, the grassy site stood idle for a long time. Then an idea took root.

“My mother loved flowers,” said Esther Tucker, who oversees the garden committee with co-chairman Glen Roth. “Esther really spearheaded the project,” Roth said.

In May 2003, Tucker said she approached Burdell Heck, chairman of the church trustees, with the idea of creating a garden next to the church building. The trustees approved the plan the next spring, and the garden committee began the task to transform the site that autumn.

The Rev. David Conrad, pastor, said, “We needed to do something in that area. Esther took the ball and got the garden going,” he said.

Tucker said Meadowbrook Nursery in Lisbon did the foundation work and initial plantings. “The meditation garden is in the shape of a cross,” Tucker said. Stones now fill the shape of the cross but Tucker said the committee eventually hopes to replace the stones with pavers.

Tucker said the original planting included some plants mentioned in the Bible. “Unfortunately, some of have disappeared,” she said, attributing the loss to weather.

The committee has added to the site. An arbor, which faces the church parking lot, welcomes visitors to the garden. Tucked on one side is a statue of an angel, protected and shaded by hostas.

Statues of a lion and lamb, donated anonymously, recently made their home in the garden. A prey and predator combination is alluded to in the Bible in Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid ...”

A bulb garden highlights one area, where tulips bloom in the spring and an array of lilies bloom during the summer. Daisies, marigolds, lavender, stoksia and sedum are among other plants that add color and interest. “We try to have color year-round,” Roth said.

“I putter around,” Tucker said of her work in the garden. “I leave the kneeling to others.”

“We and other members provide the muscle,” Roth said, adding that his wife, Joan, also assists.

One area of the garden is sheltered by trees, so it’s thought of as the shade garden. There, hostas and lily of the valley enjoy the coolness. A statue of young girl prays by a stone-like plaque with the verse, “Everything else will pass away but my words will last forever” — Matthew 24:35.

The shaded area also plays host to a bench and bird bath where some of God’s winged creatures visit. In the fall, a splash of color takes the form of chrysanthemums. “It’s nice to sit there in the shade ... and meditate or pray,” Roth said.

“I think people enjoy the garden. It’s outside and closer to God,” the Rev. Mr. Conrad said.

An addition of solar lights enhances the garden at night. “Neighbors have told me it looks like stars,” Roth said.

Tucker said church members enjoy the God-given beauty of the garden but they’re not the only ones. “Sometimes I’ve driven by and seen a mom and her kids there, enjoying the garden,” Tucker said. “And some people have used the garden as a background for photos.”

The garden also has played host to the June 17, 2006, wedding of John and Elizabeth Hawkins; he is the son of Nelda Hawkins, church secretary. A dedication service took place last summer.

“I think it’s a tremendous improvement to the property,” Roth said. “We get a lot of compliments. There’s an appreciation of the effort.”

The church maintains a wall of stars in tribute to those soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the war ends, Mr. Conrad said the sheets with the stars and names of those who died will be buried in the Peace Garden. A church member has promised to donate a monument for a lasting memorial.

linonis@vindy.com