Philippians 2:14-15 – Do everything without complaining, today. This is a Wekivaword.

In the Garden

"I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily." - Hosea 14:5


"The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." - Isaiah 35:1

"Like a lily among thorns is my darling" - Song of Songs 2:2

I took a brief walk in the church's Memorial Garden this afternoon at 4 p.m.

The plantings in the Garden were carefully selected for our region of Central Florida to provide four seasons of blossoming color, a collection of foliage that will soothe the senses and delight the eye. Many are also favorites of butterflies that visit and ensure a constant living presence in the Garden. A Fountain and Wind Sculpture at the center of the Garden remind us of the “streams that make glad…” Brick pathways lead to the fountain “whence the healing streams doth flow”. Of course, water also reminds us of our church’s name “Wekiva” the Creek word for “flowing water”.

As you can see from my photos, it is a beautiful spot where something is blooming no matter what the day or season. This offers hope to those who visit it, whether they are here to remember loved ones or to reflect upon God's creation or to simply pause in the middle of a busy day. Below is an informational article about the Memorial Garden.

The Courtyard Memorial and Meditation Garden for
Wekiva Presbyterian Church

The Courtyard Memorial and Meditation Garden which had been anticipated for many years was dedicated in 2005. The Garden was designed by our own member, Elder Tom Stahl, and is a lovely and fitting centerpiece to the church campus. Over the course of about three years, about half the costs of The Garden were given to the church as memorial and honor gifts, including a memorial gift for the fountain and the special Advent giving in 2004. Also in 2004 a generous couple in our congregation gave the church a gift for the remaining half of the cost of The Garden. The benches were fabricated by church members, to a Tom Stahl design, as well.

The Courtyard Memorial and Meditation Garden is a spiritually appropriate place on our church campus for the internment of ashes from cremation. The ashes of church members and friends who have died are put to rest in the garden, and their names are placed on a bronze wall tablet adjacent to the entry into Education Hall. Such a garden is ecologically responsible as well as an answer in part to the age-old concern of the Christian community to participate in the proper disposition and identification of the earthly remains of those who have shared in Christian fellowship here. Christians sometimes have questions about cremation, which is an acceleration of natural processes, consistent with the belief in resurrection and eternal life. While it is not everyone’s choice, it is both appropriate and accepted in Christian practice.

The Garden is also a place for members and guests to find a lovely, peaceful retreat for reflection and prayer as they listen to the fountain and appreciate the calm surroundings. The Garden is also utilized from time to time as a place of congregational fellowship. It is a dignified and beautiful place of peace and serenity.

You are invited to visit The Memorial Garden and savor it when next you are with us. Here follows our Litany of Dedication for The Memorial Garden:

The Courtyard Memorial and Meditation Garden
Of Wekiva Presbyterian Church

Litany of Dedication

Leader: Hear God’s Word as recorded in Genesis Chapter Two: “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there God placed the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.”

All: From the beginning, God envisioned that the perfect place for God’s people to dwell is in a Garden.

Leader: The Psalmist says: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.”

All: God gently calls us to us, to be beside Him, in those green and water-blessed places where we may find rest and experience renewal.

Leader: In the Garden, according to John: Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept… She glanced over her shoulder and saw someone standing behind her. It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. "Why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who are you looking for?" She thought he was the gardener." Sir," she said, "if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him." "Mary!" Jesus said. She turned toward him and exclaimed, "Teacher!"

All: We cherish the wonder of resurrection on the first Easter day, as it was revealed to Mary and through her, to all of humankind, in the Garden.

Leader: We are blessed by the promise of the Living Christ and are assured that all who trust in Him will share in His Kingdom, which will have no end. Now, we offer this Prayer of Dedication:

All: Dear Lord, We ask for Your blessing upon this Garden. May it serve as a tranquil place for meditation and prayer, a place where we may enjoy the beauty of Your world, a place where we may feel Your living presence, and a place where we may remember our loved ones who have gone before us. As it is said, “One is nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth.” We pray this shall be true, as we come to the Garden alone, or in the presence of others, in Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Please join in our Hymn of Dedication: “In The Garden”

Following the Benediction, you are invited to visit the Memorial and Mediation Garden and share in refreshments there.

Please Drive With Extraordinary Care!

The parking lot now has stripes, as you can see in these photos which I made when I arrived this morning. The lot is looking mighty nice in black and white. The Property Committee and Property Manager Vic are to be thanked for making it happen. This Sunday, our worshipers will have the happy pleasure of driving and parking on the newly refurbished lot for the very first time. (Curb your excitement, angels!)

In addition to the newly sealed blacktop surface and the glistening white stripes, there are a few other innovations, including a new location for the "First Time Guests" spaces, which at the suggestion of Elder Fred and the input of the various members of the staff, have been placed in a more visible place. Please do keep those spots open for the "First Time Guests" ON SUNDAYS. At any time else during the week you are fine to park there even if you are a Charter Member...!

A reminder, that in addition to our newly refurbished lots, ON SUNDAYS you may also park in the Bank parking lot or in the Watson parking lot, if you wish. For some of our church members, these are actually more convenient, depending on your route to and from worship. And we do encourage the staff and officers and their families to park in one or the other of those lots on Sundays, too, to keep the church lots less congested. Personally, I find that I enjoy my stroll from one of those neighboring lots every Sunday morning around seven a.m. as I arrive for the day's activities. There are usually hawks, mocking birds, finches and jays to be seen. Sometimes egrets, herons and ibis. Occasionally possum and armadillo. Rarely, bear.

We are glad we have that mutual arrangement with the Bank and with Watson (their patrons or staff do use our lots during the week). But do remember, at any time that those businesses are open for business, Wekiva folks are asked to please park in the church lots only.

I wish I did not need to remind one and all of several parking lot courtesies we encourage, but I would be remiss if I did not do so:

First, please ALWAYS obey the arrows and directional signs, which make the lot traffic "one way" loops, whether you are in the front lot or the side lot, whether the lot is full or empty.

Also, please NEVER use your cell phone while driving or walking in the parking lot, so that you can give your complete attention to where you are going.

At all times, as they say on the signs when you drive into our near-by city of Winter Park:

"Please Drive With Extraordinary Care"

Psalm 37:23-24 – God is holding your hand, this day. This is a Wekivaword.

Halfway Up The Stairs

Okay Martha told me a good story today, and I have to pass it on.

Martha is recuperating from surgery and doing very well. She was over at the Library and as everyone who knows it knows, at the Seminole County Library in Casselberry the books are on the second floor. Martha was halfway up the stairs when she suddenly remembered that her doctor told her not to do stairs, just yet.

And so she wondered. Should she go up? Or should she go back down?

(The illustration will remind many of their own childhood and the incomparable A. A. Milne)

Look Ma! No Stripes!

I thought I would take a stroll round the church and photograph it when the lot is not only empty but also freshly resealed and as yet without any stripes. It is a perfect day with N. C. Wyeth clouds, as Martha likes to say. (I do, too!) Martha is our Thursday afternoon "Ring Catcher" and also is with her sister Kathy, in charge of Wekiva's free tutoring program called "Tutor House". Martha and I have a running joke that if it is Thursday it is raining. But that is not the case at all today. It is a marvelous spring day in every way.

Did I mention that Martha's husband Vic is our Property Manager, so he is the one who has helped us spruce up the parking lot. Hooray! It really does look pretty.

The stripes are yet to come. The cones are still up. If they were not, we would be having "free style" parking, or if you prefer "improvisational parking". Not recommended. Otherwise, I would have to use Lady Violet's line to advise the errant drivers, "You're not Toad of Toad Hall." Indeed, often, with or without stripes, the lot looks more like this:

More on Macadam...

You know how much I enjoy a bad pun.

Well so apparently did others, back in the days of road building in Scotland and Britain. John Loudon McAdam's second surviving son, James Nicholl McAdam, who continued in his father's very successful line of road building, was nicknamed...

...wait for it...

"The Colossus of Roads".

Sad but true. I did NOT make that one up!

And yes, I can hear you groaning from here.

Sir James Nicoll McAdam, the son of John Loudon McAdam, the "macadamiser" of roads, was born in 1786, and was knighted in 1834. "The Colossus of Roads" was chief trustee and surveyor of the metropolitan turnpike roads. He died in 1852.