Garden of Healing,  Restoration and Remembrance. Introduction

This story by Stuart Talbot relates to the garden project he has been involved in at St Aidan’s Anglican Church, Durban. 

Why a Garden in the City, why an indigenous garden in the city?  From the time of creation God has had a relationship with people in Gardens and in the New Jerusalem, the new city of God, there will be trees for the healing of nations ( Rev 22:2 ), a river of life will flow through it's streets and there will be constant worship of God (Rev 22:5) in the city.

We chose an indigenous garden to show off the splendour of creation - plants, trees, birds and little animals that should live here will come back if we make the garden as God planned it. We will also contribute to the healing of the city's face by joining up bits of indigenous bush and beauty, like the race course (a project still to happen) the Botanic Gardens and even the trees in Warwick Junction development, and the acacia and coral trees on the island in Centenary Road.

The garden was created and designed by a professional landscaper, but most of the work was done on community planting days by the people from St Aidans,  to make the church and the city a beautiful place to be in. In patience, like God the gardener, we wait to see the fruits and beauty of creation blossom and bloom.

GARDEN OF HEALING

Situated between the church and the hospital and nurses home, the garden is symbolic of the interrelationship between the church, Divine intervention and healing, the hospital and human intervention, and the garden, which is nature’s way of contributing to healing through its many plants and potions.

Many of the plants used in the garden are medicinal plants that can be seen for sale at the muthi market in Warwick Junction - some of the plants are known to have medicinal value, others have healing properties in their beauty.  A plant list details all the plants and methods of collection and the sicknesses they treat.

The garden is also a place we hope where people will come to find healing and renewal, a quiet place, where God can be met and communed with as in Eden, where people of the city can come apart for a while and find healing for their souls.

Healing the earth and the abandoned property between the church and the nurse's home and hospital and around the church is also part of the dream of healing through the garden. May those who sit, walk, work and pray be healed as they linger in the garden, as they tarry in the city.

GARDEN OF RESTORATION

Here we continue the theme of healing and restoration - the garden is also to be a peaceful place of restoration.  It stands for restored relationships between nature, medical science and the church, often a tense relationship in the field of healing. It restores the land that was abused by urban development - unbridled development without thought for the creation. The land is restored by cultivation, composting, mulching and tender loving care for the plants that are endemic, that belong there.

Plants will be restored as we tend to the different spices that are being decimated by unscrupulous harvesting in the rural areas outside the city for sale to new urban immigrants and those who seek to be healed by methods they have known and learnt from their ancestors.

The relationship between medicine, traditional healers and the church also needs to be restored and reconciliation is needed; may that be a prayer for this garden, a symbol of that reconciled relationship. We also pray that it will show some reconciliation between the city and rural areas, usually seen only as the supply of food and plants for the city.

GARDEN OF REMEMBERENCE AND RECONCILIATION

The garden is also a place where members of this community can place a plaque on the wall of remembrance, remembering forever those that are special to them and are no longer here.

It is also a garden of remembrance where we remember that it was in a garden that Jesus was betrayed, to be taken outside the city walls to be killed so that we who should be kept outside the garden (Gen 3:22-23) can be reconciled to God and enjoy a renewed fellowship, have healed relationships and be restored and reconciled to God and one another (2 Corinthians 5:18).