In Review: 2014 in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden

As has been done in previous years, this is a review of 2014 for the Gethsemane Prayer Garden. From my perspective on a wintery morning in December, this is also my last review.

"The flowers danced To the beat of the wind, Sometimes gently, But no one knew. The woodland birds sang As the woodpecker knocked, And the Canada geese glided, But no one knew. The sun moved slowly Replacing the morning dew, And the rainbows called, But no one knew. The Lord waited patiently Hoping to see, A woman praying, Or a man on his knee. Then one came to visit, She heard it was nice, But she did not stay, Something not quite right. A chipmunk scampered About here to there, No one to bother it, No one seemed to care. The gardener stopped by, To tend to the plants, Admiring something new, God's creation at best. The peace of the garden, As few only would know, Would be seen with the cross, Yet our Lord does know. Goodbye to my friend, To a special place, Where you my Jesus, Met my heart and we danced. I toiled and toiled, For what, I do not know, Except the hope that more Would stop by to pray." Thomas B. Clarke, December 11, 2014

There have been some people that have used this garden for prayer, but they have been few in number. Despite the size and the beauty of this garden, it is hardly known and seldom used.

In September of this year, my wife and I decided to start looking at other churches. We now feel comfortable at a new church plant in Auburn. Therefore, 2014 is the last year I (Tom Clarke) will be maintaining the Gethsemane Prayer Garden. I am now retired from this prayer garden.

For several years, I had been asking for water and electricity to be extended from the building to the prayer garden. Praise God, this was accomplished prior to our decision to leave – I did not want the next generation of caretakers to have to lug those heavy hoses across the parking lot. The conduit for electricity into the garden has also been installed – if money becomes available for lighting, then the conduit is in place.

What will happen to this garden? Good question and one that I don't have an answer to. The church has decided to use a volunteer staff to maintain the garden under the direction of one key volunteer individual.

The effort to maintain this one-acre garden is fairly labor intensive. So how does a group of volunteers maintain this garden's tranquility? My recommendation is to plant large amounts of ground cover, possibly myrtle, in the mulch beds. If planted bare root in April, these ground covers typically take 3-4 years to become fully established. The advantage is that the mulch would not need to be refreshed every two years, weeding would be dramatically reduced, flower maintenance would be restricted to those few flowers that remain, and the tranquility of the garden would largely remain.

Some have asked what will happen to the flowers, shrubs and trees that have been dedicated to others. Again, that is up to Faith Chapel. I know, for there is a large tree in memory of my dad, a shrub as a prayer reminder for my older daughter, and seven flowers as a prayer reminder for my other daughter. There also is:

• a tree dedicated to the church's founding pastor,
• another tree in remembrance of one of the elders,
• a third tree to remember the husband and son of a distinguished church member, and
• a pair of trees to remember a set of twins that passed shortly after they were born.

In addition,

• a flower bed was prepared in memory of a son,
• the rose bed was inspired by the passing of a man's wife,
• a rose planted for a deceased mother,
• some benches purchased to honor loved ones, and
• the metal trellis to show respect to a man's mother.

The stone altar, as has been previously published, was placed there by many church members as a remembrance of what the Lord did in helping build the initial church building.

Through this garden, God has revealed a deeper understanding of love to me. That is my most important memory, and it is documented in my book A Garden of Love. As a Christian author, I now will have much more time to write and I am encouraged by the thought of doing so. My hope is to devote the time spent in this garden to writing/publishing.

More importantly than my writing is the increasing care that I am giving to my wife. Nancy's legs are weak and she is having a difficult time standing. She can still drive but she has limited strength and stamina. I no longer can spend long hours in that garden. I would appreciate your prayers for her health.

Thank you, Faith Chapel, for allowing me to develop and maintain this prayer garden. It was truly an honor that you would allow me to express this hope and peace for all to enjoy.

In Review: 2013 in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden

With nearly a foot of snow on the ground, I realize that gardening may be one of the last things on your mind. I developed a year-end summary for 2011 and 2012, so why stop now?

We did several things that were not on our list for 2013, and we made some progress on the two things that were on our list:

What We Did
2013 began with our neighbors, the Delaneys, clearing a large amount of plant debris on the south side of the garden. Some of the dead tree trunks were 42-inches in diameter and 5-feet long. The pile of debris was 140-feet long and 20-feet wide, so having its removal was a tremendous God-send. See my blog article entitled Delaney Farms: Thank You for Your Effort for more information on that.

The eleven-foot tall wooden cross was placed in the ground in November 2012. This spring the landscaping around that wooden cross was completed. In remembrance of the "cloud by day" in the book of Exodus, I went to a wholesale nursery to purchase five purple smokebush; instead I came back with four and an assortment of evergreens. The following morning before planting them, I opened my Bible to re-read Exodus 33,34 where Moses watched the Lord pass by him. Instantly I had the revelation on how to plant them. If I get the opportunity this spring, I want to develop a YouTube video that explains that story as told through a combination of plants.

The Exodus 33 and 34 plantings are in the foreground;
the lawn area behind those plantings is where the Delaney debris was removed

The third major addition of 2013 was the completion of the 'Pool of Siloam.' In May I was sitting on a bench overlooking the stream, asking the Lord what to do with a difficult area between the shaded flower bed and stream. It was prone to flooding, the continual weeding was very time consuming, and frankly it looked ugly. Instantly I had a vision and a word at the same time: I saw a 25-foot pond with the words, "You don't have to weed a pond." Thank you Lord!

The pond was dug in August and completed in October. The pond spans property owned by the church and the Delaneys; it was a joint effort of both to prepare it.

9/14/2013 photo of the pool's reflective qualities

While not directly related to the prayer garden, a large buckthorn and wild grapevine patch was removed this fall. As you drove towards the church and prayer garden from the road, this thicket would have been on your left and intermingled with the neighbor's tall spruce trees. Like the eyesore that the Delaney's removed in the spring, we made a similar effort on our joint property with the Delaneys. Some final cleanup work should be completed in the spring.

Volunteers
Each year I like to get a young man who can work with me on the garden. Over the years, there has been Donald, Lukas, Jesse, Scott, Jonathan and Dorian. I try to mentor them as well as teach them basic landscaping principles. This year Kasson and Bill were among the 29 volunteers that helped the most, but it was a college student named Aaron Reau that really assisted the most in the garden; Aaron was a tremendous help and he has a great eye for aesthetics. Thanks to all of you! Collectively this year you logged 660 hours. You are great!

Thoughts for 2014
Last year I wrote about a large wooden gazebo, similar to a 12'x20' gazebo that I saw at the Treadway Inn in Owego NY:

In the fall I was introduced to Jim Marsh, a graduate student in the School of Architecture at Syracuse University. He used Google Sketchup to design a prototype of that structure. Someday I hope to get a copy of that design which I will post on this blog. It is truly awesome! Jim and I are thinking that the construction cost may be around $10,000.

I also wrote last year about the continuing need for water and electricity in the garden. Work was scheduled to start last fall but weather and other complications have delayed the start of that effort. Electricity is needed so that work on the gazebo can begin.

We hope to start moving to a better style of benches in 2014. The problem with the current benches is they are require a considerable amount of sanding, staining and other repair work on a regular basis. Our hope is to obtain log benches for the vicinity of the large wooden cross, and long-lasting resin benches for the other locations.

Blessings to you all for 2014. Prayer, that is regular two-way communication with our Lord, should be an essential part of each believer's walk; that is why this garden is available to the public.

In His service,
Tom

In Review: 2012 and What's Next in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden?

In 2012 we completed one of the largest expansions of the garden area. By clearing a large thicket of overgrown brush near the stream last spring, we are now officially calling this a two-acre garden. That area was planted with cosmos which unfortunately did not fair very well with the dry weather and lack of watering.

Then last fall, another 150 feet of walkway was added on the southern side of the garden along with a large wooden cross and two wooden grape trellis structures as an illustration of the pruning process in John 15:2.

My regular prayer to God has been, "What's next?"

For some time, I have been seeing a vision of a large wooden gazebo. This began when I saw a 12'x20' gazebo at the Treadway Inn in Owego NY:

The cost of this gazebo is well beyond what Faith Chapel can afford, even if we use our own construction crews. But I know that if God wants it built, He will provide a way.

In my prayers I have also asked God about the lack of water and electricity in the garden. So far there has not been an answer:

• WATER: There is water available at the church but the difficulty is in getting the hoses across the parking lot to the targeted areas. Lugging the hoses into the garden and then coiling them up at the end of the day is challenging – not a task to be left for the faint-hearted. As a result, dry areas are not adequately watered and the plants suffer each year.
• ELECTRICITY: We had four weddings in this garden in 2012 and I expect many more in future years. Weddings really could use electricity to amplify their voices and sing whatever songs the new couple selects. Possibly we could have outdoor lighting or we could place spotlights on the wooden cross. And to build that gazebo, it would sure help if we had electricity.

I'm not exactly sure why God replied as He has, but He continues to remind me of a song by Hillsong with the title, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul".

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End Note: The overall theme for this series of articles is flowers and plants, showing how they point to love. Sometimes I write 'how to' do something, other times the emphasis is a status update, or the article will be about how a plant or flower touched my heart. All of these writings are based on plants from the Gethsemane Prayer Garden in Syracuse, NY. Please consider some of the other blog articles: Index of Articles About the Gethsemane Prayer Garden.
Tom Clarke, Caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden

In Review: 2011 in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden

While it may seem early to be writing a "How Did We Do For The Year?" review in the September / October time frame, to the caretaker of a public garden, it makes perfect sense to write this now. By December, flowers have long faded and the interest is more tuned to the next day's snowfall.

The Gethsemane Prayer Garden at Faith Chapel in Syracuse is a one-acre landscaped garden for people to enjoy the beauty of God our Creator and to rest in His presence. The garden is open to the public and there is no admission fee.

The hope at Faith Chapel is that people would visit this small but intimate garden, seeing it as an outdoor sanctuary and a place to experience God and His love. There are fifty perennial flower varieties and several hundred shrubs and trees, intended to usher in God’s peace. Benches are available for a quiet time with the Lord.

The Volunteer Force
The main purpose of this garden is plants for people, not plants in themselves. May was very wet and July was very hot. While the stress of extreme weather affects the plants, it also affects the garden workers. Some days in the garden were very challenging this year, but each year has some difficult days – this year it seemed that there were more.

We had forty-one volunteers this year which is down from fifty-two in 2010. The volunteer hours spent in the garden dropped 40 percent. Our typical church attendance is around 300 people on any given Sunday, of which nearly half are in their twenties or thirties – as caretaker, I personally am satisfied with the support shown by the older ones of our congregation. By the end of 2011, my own hours will have dropped 20 percent for the year, averaging just seven hours per week.

Garden Quality
Despite the reduced hours, the garden quality has not significantly suffered. Heavy mulching in late May was a significant factor in helping to control the weeds. The volunteers have developed good sensitivity for keeping the quality at a high level and they seem very interested in learning how to maintain a garden environment.

Much attention has been given to the wooden benches last year and again this year. A much-appreciated volunteer has spent an inordinate amount of time improving the quality of our benches and it shows. In a certain way, the quality of the garden is reflected in the quality of the benches, just as the polish on a man's shoe is a reflection of his opinion of himself.

The roses require the greatest amount of time in this garden, but these lusciously sweet flowers are well worth the effort. With the heat of July, we essentially had no blossoms for nearly one month. We lost them again in early September because we did not prune them often enough in August. (Remember the lesson on pruning from John 15). Yet while they were in blossom, the roses looked great as they have matured.

Garden Visitors
While the Gethsemane Prayer Garden is oftentimes without any visitors, we have seen more visitors this year than any previous year. On Monday and Tuesday evenings, my joy has been to see a small group of African refugees spend an hour or so in the garden. Each one takes his or her own bench and has a quite time with the Lord, some singing, some praying, some reading Scriptures, and one watching the two small children. At the end, they gather around the stone altar for a time of corporate prayer and singing. It is so sweet to see – whereas our suburban church folk may not know how to use this garden, the Lord has brought a group from a another continent to teach us by example!

We have also witnessed an increased number of visitors on Sunday mornings and at various times during the week. Articles in Syracuse's Good News paper and in the internet's Ruby for Women have helped this. We had two Garden Tours but they were not well promoted and therefore not well attended – hopefully we can do a better job with promotion next year.

Garden Expansion
This fall we have begun and should finish developing two areas:

• A large rock was "planted" near the northern entrance to the garden, and landscaping will be added around it. We will plant flowers around this rock which will hopefully be more inviting to those that see this area for the first time.
• The garden area in the south-west corner is being cleared. Plant debris near the stream is being removed and truckloads of soil have been brought in. Ground cover is being added around some of the evergreens in this area. The effect should be better integration of this area into the garden and will permit another location where people can seek the Lord.

Thoughts for Next Year
One of the struggles we had in April was overcoming the heavy deer damage from the previous winter. One ornamental pine tree had to be removed and several arborvitae were severely chewed. Later this fall, we should protect more of the evergreens and do this effort in mid-November before the snow starts flying. The fencing around a large cluster of evergreens looks ugly, but without it the deer would devastate them.

The lawn surrounding the garden will hopefully be mowed more often next year. The weather has been a major factor in this because too much rain and too much heat are significant inhibitors to regular lawn maintenance.

April and May are by far the most labor intensive periods in this garden. Hopefully in 2012 we will have much more volunteer participation during this time. As more people start discovering this garden, it will be important to get the garden in shape much earlier in the season.

We have had to put off the construction of the gazebo for another year. Hopefully the funds for this wedding location and center for small gatherings will be come to fruition in 2012.

Submitted in faith,
Tom Clarke

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End Note: The overall theme for this series of articles is flowers and plants, showing how they point to love. Sometimes I write 'how to' do something, other times the emphasis is a status update, or the article will be about how a plant or flower touched my heart. All of these writings are based on plants from the Gethsemane Prayer Garden in Syracuse, NY. Please consider some of the other blog articles: Index of Articles About the Gethsemane Prayer Garden.
Caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden