Sunny Skies and Cool -- Let the Market Begin

So far it looks like my prayers are being answered.

Today is opening day of the 13th season of the Drake Neighborhood Farmer's Market. Each Wednesday afternoon, June through September, volunteers set up canopies and tables and chairs, vendors set up displays, a Deejay sets up a sound system, and customers wander around shopping for...well, all sorts of things. There is produce, jellies, baskets, free-range chickens and eggs, kettle-corn, childrens' activities, honey, barbecue, tamales, a health tent, and usually more. But mostly there is community -- neighbors from all around the globe, strangers, friends, urbanites, country-folk; Babel's residue of languages -- all rubbing shoulders in a church parking lot. Amazing.

And humbling. I remember its inception. A group of us were sitting in a meeting 14-or-so years ago now. I don't remember the nature of the meeting of the name of the group, but I remember the suggestion that popped out in the midst of it: "Why don't we start a farmer's market in the parking lot?" I was still new enough on the scene that I didn't venture an audible response, but internally I thought to myself, "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. A farmer's market? In our parking lot? What's the sense of that?"

Thankfully I kept my thoughts to myself, for the Drake Neighborhood Farmer's Market has, through the years, become one of our most important outreach expressions as a church, and one of our biggest gifts to the community. Begun at a time when the neighborhood around us was deeply troubled and often dangerous, the market afforded a chance for people to mingle without getting shot; and a chance to gather some fresh produce when stores were in short supply. Recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, utilized by the state as a place to pilot new market initiatives, and voted this year the 2nd best farmer's market in Des Moines, the market seems to find no end to the ways to underscore how misguided were my initial impressions.

This afternoon, then, we open for a 13th season, and as I have done for the past several openings, just prior to the whistle blowing open the sales, I will offer a blessing of the market. Here is what I will pray:

God of soil and sun and rain and seed, God of muscle and patience and harvest and market, we give you thanks for this day, and for this 13^th season of the Drake Neighborhood Farmer’s Market. We give you thanks for the joy that countless will experience satisfying the hungers that lead them here: the community that will be built, the diversity of the world that will be revealed, the health that will be encouraged, the wisdom that will be shared, the skills that will be displayed and the tastes that will be consumed. Bless, then, this market, O God – the chickens and the eggs, the collards and the squash, the apples and the berries, the honey and the bread, the baskets and the barbecue and the popcorn and the tamales, and all those who sell them; the vendors, and all who shop them; bless the exhibitors and volunteers who set up tents and tables, direct traffic and entertain children; bless the manager and the entertainers; and if it isn’t impertinent, we’d appreciate sunny skies on Wednesdays and cool afternoons – all of which is simply to say it again: Bless this market, O God, that it might be a reflection of your goodness, and a gift to this community. Amen.

Looking outside, the sun is shining after several days of rain. And it's cool.

So far so good.