Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

The rake uncovered a square piece of plastic in the front flowerbed. We tried to scrape it aside with the other debris of winter, but it was stuck. My husband wiggled it out of the soil.

A five-inch statue of St. Joseph emerged (sans the head. It’s probably buried in there too, but saints have lost their heads many times over the centuries!). Some might not know the tradition of burying a St. Joseph statue in the yard when you put the house up for sale. You’re supposed to bury him upside down, which some previous occupant rightly did. And you’re supposed to dig him up when the house sells, which they obviously forgot.

Sometimes God presents a metaphor for life on a silver platter. This is one of those times. Here we are, preparing the soil for planting. Trimming boxwoods, pruning rosebushes, pulling weeds. And in the process, we uncover the buried.

In our spiritual lives, individually and corporately as a church and worshiping community, we are called to nurture new life, to prepare and become fertile soil, ready for God to plant seeds. We are called to examine our selves and our actions, to move aside the weeds and the dried leaves that have piled up from apathy, exhaustion, or frustration. 

And when we do, we uncover things. Sometimes the discovery is totally surprising, like the poor, mottled, headless St. Joseph. In other situations, we rediscover things we purposefully buried, that we didn’t have time or energy to deal with. But for new life to firmly take root, we need to deal with the things we’d rather bury. Have a difficult conversation. Pray and seek a workable resolution. Ask for forgiveness. Or give it. Choose a new path and leave behind dangerous addictions and toxic relationships. 

Let spring take hold of you. Embrace the mighty work God is doing in you. And unbury the things that are keeping you from this new life.

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