Seeking Hope in the Garden of Gethsemane

by Alyssa Moore

John 18:1-3. Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. Judas his betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

Mark 14:32-36: Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be troubled and distressed. Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch.” He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass by him; he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.”

My fellow worshippers, the word of our savior, Jesus Christ.

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Good morning. My name is Alyssa Moore, a CreatureKind Fellow, and I will be sharing a few words for us today.

Beloved of God, we have journeyed through yet another Lenten season. We have gone into the wilderness with Jesus. Through our prayer, through fasting, through mourning, through works of justice and mercy, we have walked into the desert. And so perhaps it’s fitting that now, in Holy Week, we begin and end in a garden.

In the Gospel of John we read that, “Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered.” We read that Jesus has often been there with his disciples. We know that in Jesus’ ministry up to this point he speaks repeatedly of the beauty of creation, its belovedness and worthiness of care in the eyes of God. And right before what he knows to be a night of anguish, Jesus seeks refreshment and peace and companionship in the garden. Jesus seeks communion with God and answers to prayer in the garden. We can picture what it looked like, what kind of trees and grasses, what kind of flowers and creatures might be there with Christ. We can picture our own gardens, our own communities and ecosystems.

And today we can hear Christ asking us to keep watch and be present with him in that garden, just as he asked for the company of Peter, James, and John. Just as he asks that the cup might be taken away from him, we may be frightened of what Jesus is asking us: of what he might call us to see, to experience, to do. Because as we have experienced, all too often, the quiet garden soon becomes the scene of injustice, violence, and persecution.  

White supremacy, colonialism, greed, and speciesism have uprooted the “gardens” we live in, and just as Jesus is taken from the garden to the place of judgment, we know that we have dispossessed peoples of their lands and animals of their homes. The violence and injustice of our political systems is not a phenomenon unique to Jesus’ day.

White supremacy has cried out “crucify them” to BIPOC communities—to Black and Asian Americans, to the indigenous peoples whose stolen lands we colonize, to the people and countries our food systems exploit. Religious and political institutions have cried out “crucify them” to our queer and trans family. Capitalism and imperialism cry out “crucify them” to the disabled, the poor and working-class. And speciesism cries out “crucify them” to the community of creation, perpetuating a never-ending Good Friday for both animal and human bodies, in order to put meat, fish, and dairy products on the table.

We began in a garden and we end in a garden. We read that, “In the garden there was a new tomb,” where Jesus was laid after he is crucified, and has surrendered his spirit to God. In the world these days it seems that there is always a new tomb, a new crisis, a new tragedy; the world has already ended and ended so many times, for so many people, and animals, and continues to end every day: through mass shootings, through pandemics, through harmful legislation, through climate change, pollution, industrial animal agriculture. We may feel like the men who offer their help in claiming the body of Jesus, or the women who bring the burial spices and ointments to the tomb: maybe helpless, maybe frightened, showing up in the dark and just trying to do the best with what we have.

But it is at that tomb, in that garden, where the women will receive the news that Jesus is risen—and with him, the entire community of creation.

Imbued with the promise of that Easter strength, knowing and believing that death will not have the last word, that we are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song—what stones can we roll away? What stones will we roll away?

In one of our Lenten readings, Isaiah 58, the prophet said:

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
   releasing those bound unjustly,
   untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
   breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
   sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
   and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
   and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
   you shall cry for help, and [God] will say: Here I am!

Beloved of God, we are called to a project of resurrection and liberation in which we are not alone. The prophet changes the paradigm from an individual experience of mourning and penance to a communal project of change, healing, and solidarity. Jesus changes the paradigm from death to life and rebirth. As in a garden, life arises from what can seem like a continual state of death. And we are called, during these last few days of Lent, and in the Easter season that follows, to breathe life into works of justice: not to deny or ignore our neighbors, human and nonhuman—“not to turn our back on our own.” God will be with us in this work.

Guided by the Spirit, we are called to a prophetic vision that may seem as impossible as resurrection in the midst of what seems like an endless Good Friday or Holy Saturday. A vision in which we all share together in table fellowship, working in peace and fierce love and tenderness to heal and nurture and sustain the whole community of creation.

Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to where there was a garden.

He is waiting for us: waiting to pray with us, to watch with us, to share our pain, our hope, and our struggle, waiting to turn the world upside down…and begin a new life with us.

Today, let us seek and find him there.  

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Alyssa Moore (she/her/hers or they/them/theirs). Since a young age, Alyssa’s love of animals and her vibrant experience of parish life have been her greatest joys, as well as tremendous sources of mission and motivation. She is a Catholic from Berkeley, CA, currently studying for a Master of Divinity degree at Santa Clara University’s Jesuit School of Theology (JST), and her CreatureKind fellowship will fulfill her degree’s field education requirements for this year. Alyssa has helped organize discussions with her JST theological community about the sentience and sacredness of farmed animals, and about how care for God’s nonhuman creation can intersect with other local and global issues. She is eager to continue to grow in discipleship as part of CreatureKind’s thoughtful, prayerful, and essential work for all of God’s creation.

Homily for a CreatureKind Advent Service

This homily was written and delivered by Ashley M. Lewis for the CreatureKind Advent Service in December 2020.

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Scriptures from the Fourth Week of Advent

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 (NRSV)

7:1 Now when the king (David) was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent." 3 Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you."

4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"

8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house… 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV)

1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."

29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

35 The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.

36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God."

38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

This is the Word of God, for the community of God. Thanks be to God. 

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Homily for a CreatureKind Advent Service

By Ashley Lewis

An angel shows up at the house of a young woman and says she will be given a son, who will be called “Son of the Most High.” This son will be given the throne of David and will reign over the house of Jacob with an everlasting kingdom.

What a terrifying, puzzling, mysterious, wonderful, beautiful promise? 

A throne. A kingdom. An everlasting reign. For nothing will be impossible with God.

Hearing these words from God’s messenger, Mary must have considered the lineage into which she was now birthing her son. The very lineage that we read about in 2 Samuel. David, the favored son of God, who was brought up out of the pasture to a palace, to become king of Israel. Whose son built the temple, the house of God. The promise God made to David, and to Jacob before him, would be fulfilled in Jesus the son of Mary.

So, perhaps she thought her royal treatment would begin promptly! Maybe she envisioned the kingdoms of the world crumbling at her feet as her son grew from boy to man. Maybe she thought that upon Jesus’s birth, the house of God would begin to overshadow the palaces of Rome and that she would come to live as a queen in a new dynasty. She might have imagined that under the rule of her son, fairness and equity and justice would prevail, and that despair, poverty, and idolatry would no longer have a place in the world. The corrupt empires that exploit humans, animals, and the earth would be abolished. She probably thought Jesus would deliver them from homelessness and wandering into an everlasting home with God, where all Creation would be at peace.

Is that the vision that made Mary say yes? If she knew what Jesus’s life would really be like, would she have said, “Let it be with me, according to your word?”

Because Jesus never occupied an earthly throne. His kingdom did not appear to break the hold Rome had over the world. In fact, he didn’t ever even stay in one place, much less have a palace. He wandered. He was a traveler. As a man, he had no place to lay his head and was not welcomed even in his hometown. As a baby, he was born in someone else’s house and given a feedbox for a bed.

The house where Jesus was born was most likely a distant relative of Joseph. And contrary to popular thought, Jesus and his parents were not made to stay in a stable, outside. Stables didn’t exist in first century Palestine. Instead, the common room of the house, on the first level, was where humans and animals lived together. It would have been preferable and much more appropriate for guests like Mary and Joseph to be given the guest room, upstairs, where they could have privacy. But all the guest rooms in town were occupied, so this family-member who welcomed Mary and Joseph gave them what they had:

A corner of the common room.

Warmth.

Bread.

Prayers.

A place to sleep. 

And when Jesus made his appearance into the world as a human child, even the animals gave up what they had for him. The manger, where they were used to seeing hay and feed, was now occupied by a baby.

Perhaps the sheep and the goats were perplexed by Jesus’s presence in their trough. Surely, they’d be wondering where their food was, staring at him, smelling him and the space all around him, pondering why he’s occupying the place where their dinner should be. Like our pets when we move their food bowl.

I’d like to think Jesus’s presence pacified them in their confusion. This child would later offer his body up for the sin of the world, breaking bread, pouring wine, shedding his own blood, and indoctrinating creation into a new covenant with God.

But, long before Jesus sat at the table and broke bread with his disciples, he laid among the animals—in place of their food.

Watching over Jesus on the night of his birth, Mary must have wondered when all these grand promises were supposed to start coming true, as the angel said? How would such a house be established? When would Jesus take the throne? How would God get them from here to there? What would it be like to be given a place all their own, planted in the presence of the Lord, and disturbed no more by the corrupt forces of the world? When would they be delivered from pasture into paradise?

Let it be, Lord, according to your word!

When we envision God's kingdom coming to life in this world, we often imagine it taking place in the grandest way. We suppose the so-called powers and principalities will crack and crumble, as a new, just ruler takes the throne.

But our God is prone to wander, from place to place, in a tent and a tabernacle, not afraid to seek shelter in someone else’s house or among the animals, taking up residence in the unlikeliest of places… in a crowded room, sharing bread and warmth and prayers, reclining at the table, or in the manger, where human and non-human alike can bear witness to this new sort-of kin-dom.   

The thing about Emmanuel—God with us—is that if God’s going to be with us, God’s gotta be able to go where we go.

Emmanuel—God with us—is at home in our hearts and at our tables. In our mess, and in the messes we make. God can’t be locked away in a palace, or a white house, or on a throne. God of Creation is at home in creation, with creation.

In the skies and in the oceans. In the cities and in the countryside. In the stars above our heads and in the earth beneath our feet.

In a manger. In a crowded family room. In the company of humans and non-humans. In the wild places and in our domestic comforts, whether welcomed or estranged.

God takes up residence where hope is needed the most. With the homeless. With the oppressed. With the depressed.

In the slaughterhouses and on the killing room floor. In the prisons and at the borders. In the fields, and in the factories.

What a terrifying, puzzling, mysterious, wonderful, beautiful promise. 

A manger. A savior. An everlasting reign. For nothing will be impossible with God.

Let it be with me according to your word.

On Food and Faith: Ministry in the Time of Climate Change

by Sarah Withrow King

Three years ago, almost to the day, I shared the following exchange with my son, who was then not-quite-eight years old.

Son: “Mommy? Can I tell you one thing I'm worried about? If people keep littering [begins to cry] the planet will get too hot and we will die!”
Me: “That's why we don't eat animals.”

I noted at the time that my first instinct was to say, "No, no, won't happen, no worries!" I desperately wanted my kid to believe that there was hope, that the world would be able to sustain him. Maybe all the climate change deniers are just flawed parents.

I struggle to maintain this hope myself, and it only gets more challenging as the years continue to wear on and the species continue to die off. I find myself in a frenetic race to produce work that will convince fellow Jesus-followers to take action to prevent suffering and foster flourishing, both present and future.

But there is hope. There is the cosmic hope we share of the full restoration of creation to the Creator, a world, “on earth, as it is in heaven.” And there’s the hope from stories of people who are daily following a call to resist the status quos of consumerism and despair. I heard many of those stories at “On Food and Faith: Ministry in the Time of Climate Change,” a conference hosted on the campus of Methodist Theological School in Ohio (MTSO) by MTSO, The Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT), The Center for Earth Ethics, and The Climate Reality Project. Thanks to a few signs of hope, I came away from that event with a profound sense that we who care deeply are not alone in this work, that it’s possible for people with different drives to unite for a common cause, and that the more we work together, the more transformative our work will be.

Honored to co-lead a workshop on “Eating for Community and Climate” with Adrienne Krone, of Allegheny College. Photo credit: MTSO.

Honored to co-lead a workshop on “Eating for Community and Climate” with Adrienne Krone, of Allegheny College. Photo credit: MTSO.

My first sign of hope? “The Well-Being of Animals” was a major theme of the event, from small-group discussion time to workshop options, to the mostly vegan food served at the conference. Here’s the handout on the connections between animal agriculture and climate change that Adrienne and I shared with our workshop participants.

Second sign of hope? Stories of transformative actions and initiatives by and from everyday, mostly midwestern, Church folks. The homeschool mom known as the “vegetable pusher.” The young vegetarian who taught herself to hunt when she decided she wanted to eat meat, and who shed tears over every life she took. The bi-racial couple who is defying the odds by holding on to their family farm, despite incredible economic pressure. The Bible teacher who runs a farm co-op, so that the people in his community can have access to healthy, sustainable food. And so much more.

Third sign of hope? Institutions who are changing their practices, taking risks to do what they know is right. MTSO, for instance, runs a huge vegetable farm on their campus, serving farmer’s markets and families throughout their region, in addition to providing food and training in sustainable agricultural practices for their own community. Before they started the farm, campus food services were provided by opening cans and dumping their contents into warming trays. The only kitchen appliance was a microwave. Now, CIA-trained chefs serve up smoked vegetables, wood-fired pizza, local greens, farm-grown fruit, and more. The well-managed farm provides paid internship opportunities for young people who want to learn sustainable farming methods, along with furnished housing and utilities. Faculty members like the brilliant Elaine Nogueira-Godsey, who brought down the house in the final plenary, show students how theology, ecology, and race are deeply intertwined. The campus is buzzing with bees, butterflies, and a sense of possibility.

Photo credit: MTSO

Photo credit: MTSO

I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this special gathering, and determined to find and share examples of this kind of hope-filled work happening in my own backyard. I hope you share yours, too.

Oh, and I also got to meet former Vice President, Al Gore. His film An Inconvenient Truth was my first exposure to the concept of climate change, and it helped shape my entire life.

Oh, and I also got to meet former Vice President, Al Gore. His film An Inconvenient Truth was my first exposure to the concept of climate change, and it helped shape my entire life.

P.S. One way you can support this kind of awareness-raising work is to donate to CreatureKind. We are funded entirely by donations, and every dollar makes a difference!