Walk on Water with The Garden

Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • October 16, 2023

Please Help The Garden Grow into 2024

Soon, Outreach will start our annual collection of supplies in laundry baskets for Fletcher Place. As I helped deliver them last year, a woman came to me and said, “Oh, I love this time of year. That basket is one of my favorite Christmas presents. Thank you so very much!” Public assistance does not cover hygiene and laundry supplies, but through your generosity, over seventy families received these essential supplies many of us take for granted. Please know that this faith community never takes YOU for granted! It is only through your generosity, dedication, and support that we will, in grateful service, continue nurturing and growing The Garden in 2024.

When I asked us this summer to consider “wading in the water,” I had no idea what God had in store. I noted ways we must consider “getting out of the boat” in faith, and, among other considerations, I talked about The Garden’s expected shortfall at the end of this year. Then, through Kimberly Morgan’s thrilling rendition of the song “Wade in the Water,” the Spirit took our breath away. After the service, a Gardener who watched online texted me during a meeting. He said, “I want to ‘Wade in the Water’ and help The Garden with this deficit.” I shared that text with the team, and by the end of the meeting, they put together an unprecedented summertime plan to raise money with a goal of 60 donors and $30,000 in 60 days. We knew it was ambitious, but we had faith. Within a few weeks, we hit those marks, and by the end of the campaign, we surpassed them, raising 149% of our goal!

With autumn’s arrival, we have entered the season of our annual stewardship campaign, when we ask you to pledge financial support for The Garden in the coming year. Continuing the Wade in the Water campaign’s theme of miracles through faith, we have adopted “Walk on Water” as our 2024 Stewardship Campaign theme.

Through last year’s stewardship campaign plus the Wade initiative, over 90 Gardeners pledged and donated nearly $200,000 to support The Garden in 2023. As we step toward the coming year, we ask you to help us match that support and reach our goal of $200,000 in pledges for 2024. This will ensure funding for our weekly services, missions, and outreach programs, Big Give grants, music ministry, Sunday morning refreshments, audio-visual technologies, facilities... everything that allows us to continue our work serving and uplifting our community.

In the coming weeks, we will reflect on this year and consider our aspirations as we move forward. In 2023, we waded into the water. With your continuing commitment and generous pledge, we will, with faith, “Walk on Water” into 2024.

Thank you for your kindness and generosity. YOU make The Garden possible!

Carolyn

Pledge Now (thank you!)

2023 Highlights

You nurtured “The Garden’s Garden” to grow & donate tons of fresh produce to the Crooked Creek Food Pantry.

You helped provide, prepare, & serve hundreds of meals for the hungry in partnership with Soups’ On at Roberts Park.

You supported these local service organizations through our

Big Give Grants:

• Morning Dove Therapeutic Riding

• Visually Impaired Preschool Services

• Camptown, Inc.

• Joy’s House

You donated 70+ laundry baskets

of supplies to families through Fletcher Place

You engaged in these partnerships

with Union Chapel:

• Lift Up Pantry

• Blessing Bags

• Angel Tree

• Family Promise of Greater Indiana

Your Faith in Action Team led Gardeners to write 128 letters to state legislatures urging more support for the hungry

You supported our continued Stepping Stones children’s programming

You attended book discussion groups and a Lenten Journey program

You joined us for Euchre games

You embraced Conversations

with Carolyn

You welcomed new musical talents

Your support helped us launch multiple website enhancements and audio/visual technology improvements

You welcomed new members

You enjoyed Sunday refreshments including:

• Approx 1,900 donuts

• Over 600 bagels

...and lots of coffee!

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Easter Sunday | Choose to Belong

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 31, 2026

This Sunday we conclude our Lenten series with a heartfelt message, “Choose to Belong.” We’ll celebrate Easter—both as a remembrance of the resurrection and as a celebration of new beginnings, including welcoming new Gardner members into our inclusive community. Easter's beautiful expression of love and hope represents a tradition that calls us to notice the ways love rises again in our lives, dispelling darkness. Whether you interpret the resurrection story literally or embrace it as a metaphor of love overcoming despair, there is a place for you here. This weekend we’ll explore what it means to belong, and how our faith deepens through our connections with one another and with the sacred. Come experience the joy of community and discover how we can embody the transformative love of Christ together. Join us as we celebrate this meaningful day. Let’s embrace new beginnings and growth as one community. We can’t wait to see you.

Choose to Belong

By Matthew Vire • March 25, 2026

The experience of exclusion tempts us to blame ourselves, to think that we're falling short, that we are somehow wrong, damaged, unacceptable, or unworthy. To fix these perceived shortcomings, we may seek to fit in. There's nothing inherently wrong with fitting in — it can feel great — but it may come at the cost of our authenticity. In Letter to My Daughter , Maya Angelou writes, “You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all.” She does not mean that we are rootless, but speaks of abandoning the chase for approval so we can be free to show up authentically. We do not need to change who we are to belong. Brené Brown eloquently unpacks Angelou's profound statement in this video. May it offer you reassurance, comfort, and courage as we continue exploring what belonging means.

The Labyrinth Called Life

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 24, 2026

Have you noticed it? If you’ve been with us at The Garden over the past six weeks, you’ve likely walked right over it—the Labyrinth just outside the sanctuary doors. It’s easy to miss when we’re rushing in or out, but it’s there quietly inviting us to slow down, breathe, and pay attention to the path beneath our feet. As we move toward Easter, that invitation feels especially timely. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the moment in the story when Jesus enters Jerusalem to cheers, branches waving, and a sense of possibility in the air. But that joyful procession is only the threshold of a much deeper journey. In the days that follow, Jesus moves through experiences that are profoundly human—sharing meals with friends, seeking quiet in a garden, wrestling with uncertainty, facing conflict, and ultimately walking a path that leads to the cross. The story does not shy away from suffering or loss, yet it also doesn’t end there. It moves through death into the promise of new life, renewal, and hope. Whether you connect with this story as history, metaphor, or a mirror for your own life, it offers a pattern many of us recognize: how celebration and struggle often sit side by side, how a single week can hold both joy and heaviness, and how transformation sometimes emerges from places we would never choose. As we enter this meaningful week, I invite you to consider your own path. What are you carrying right now? Where are you seeking connection, clarity, or courage? What parts of your journey are asking for attention, and what new life might be waiting just beyond what you can see? Let this be a week to walk with intention—to notice the twists and turns, the companions along the way, and the quiet hope that can rise even in uncertain places.

Be You. (What Does THAT Mean?)

By Matthew Vire • March 17, 2026

"Be you" is common advice. But what does it mean? The exhortation to "be you" is an invitation to relax into yourself and let go of worries that you don't measure up to someone else's idea of who you are or should be. "Be you" means be honest––to yourself first and then with the world––about your thoughts, feelings, insecurities, passions, interests, and inclinations. It means you're more than worthy. It means you are enough. It means you're worth knowing, seeing, and loving. Our resistance to be ourselves comes from fear, judgement, and insecurity. Fear tells us "hide." Judgment says, "you're not good enough, so you better pretend." Insecurity warns, "people won't like you if they really see you." But it can be easy to Be You. You don't have to do anything; you can just be. The only barrier is self-acceptance. Love can break through that. May this week give you space to breathe, to soften, and to trust that who you are is already held in love.

Paths to Belonging

By Rev. Dr. Carolyn Scanlan-Holmes • March 16, 2026

This Sunday, we continue our Lenten journey with the theme of belonging. The National Institutes of Health recognizes belonging as a fundamental human need that shapes our mental, physical, and social well-being. One of the insights from our Greenhouse Challenge was the recognition that many people in the U.S. are experiencing loneliness. In response, The Garden has been exploring what it means to belong—not just socially, but spiritually and communally. During worship, we’ll check in with Scott Semester to hear how our grant initiative may help us create spaces of sanctuary—places where people feel seen, safe, and truly at home. Our Scripture this week, Ecclesiastes 4:12, reminds us that “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Belonging is not just about individual strength—it’s about the resilience we find in connection. When we walk together, support one another, and share our lives, we become stronger than we ever could be alone. May we continue to weave lives of compassion, curiosity, and courage—threads that bind us to one another and to the sacred truth that we belong.