I want to express that I think the gardening metaphor that UU ministers, UUA staff, and other leaders have been using lately is beautiful. There are many ways I have seen it riffed on and I have also been inspired in my own layperson ministry and philosophizing. However, I want to express a concern. People are not weeds. Let's not use the gardening metaphor to treat anyone like an unwanted thing to be tossed aside. There are many philosophies around gardening. There are beautiful, wild, and even healing plants that might not pair well with an aggressively farmed monocrop system. With a deep ecological view, every plant and every person has a place where they might best thrive. All have an inherent dignity worth preserving and protecting, even the disruptive ones. It's important to keep healthy and respectful boundaries with other people in our own lives and within our congregations, but Iโm not sure how to communicate that well within the gardening metaphor. How would all of you communicate this within the gardening metaphor?
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