St. Francis Episcopal ChurchHolden, Massachusetts

 

The design for the St. Francis Memorial Garden is a representation of a way in which God's love for us connects us to each other through the Holy Spirit. Starting at the parking lot, a wide, comfortable walkway, enhanced by welcoming curves, leads to the garden itself. This walkway supplies universal access while providing a sense of comfortable enclosure as it passes between the building and the retaining wall at the base of the slope under the trees. The gentle curve at the end of the walk, glimpses of plantings and a low wall draws one around the corner where the garden is revealed.

The garden itself is the entirety of the space bounded by the church buildings, the low seating wall and simple plantings. The burial area immediately adjacent to the sanctuary is a serene area of evergreen groundcover. In addition to looking good all year, this area will now allow easy access for burials with minimum disturbance to the plantings. Family members will have simplified access to the burial process with no worries about unsure footing. Additionally, the evergreen quality of the ground cover symbolizes life eternal in the Holy Spirit. A circular walkway brushes past this consecrated ground. This circle represents the hope of resurrection and is depicted in subtle Celtic motifs in the church sanctuary on the baptismal font and the lectern. The circular walkway is wide enough to permit two people to walk side by side around the circle and will also accommodate groups for services or other gatherings.

The low sitting wall offers a place to pause and rest and to contemplate those who have gone before us. In the planting bed behind the sitting wall, the three dogwood trees represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Their location is meant to provide enclosure and shelter to garden visitors. The choice of this particular dogwood species provides for disease resistance, long flowering and good fall color. The symbolism of resurrection is enhanced by the growth pattern of dogwoods. After losing their leaves in the fall, they leaf out again in the spring. Dogwood also has a place in folklore as being the tree from which the cross Jesus bore was constructed.

The new clear glass windows in the sanctuary allow those using the garden to view the world beyond the church walls and to consider how we can bring ourselves to this world renewed and refreshed by the spirit at work in each of us.

With purposefully simple plantings, artful masonry, easy access, a place to rest, and rich symbolism, the St. Francis Memorial Garden will allow visitors to experience that "thin place" where life, death and resurrection intersect.