Chelsea and beyond

You brought Psalm 23 to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and now you can bring it into communities.

What an amazing week it was at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Sarah Eberle’s beautiful Psalm 23 Garden not only won a prestigious gold medal, but also scooped the Best Sanctuary Garden award and the Best Construction prize.

Actor Sally Phillips stood on the garden in vertiginous heels and said Psalm 23 to the world’s press. And day after day, the Psalm 23 Garden volunteer team had amazing conversations with people about both the garden and the psalm.

People sang. Others wept. Everyone seemed to visibly relax. Many returned again and again, simply to drink in the garden’s beauty, and with that, its meaning. You loved the garden and so did the media. In just one week, the garden received some 1,095 mentions in both national and regional media. You can still watch Frances Tophill and Sarah Eberle chatting about the garden on iPlayer.

But Chelsea is just the beginning. Now it’s your turn. People have already started reaching out to their communities with gardens and banquets inspired by Psalm 23. For some the two were combined and the effect was deeply involving and even moving. This is a great way even for a small church to be a light to people locally. Bible Society has supported gatherings with practical guides and scriptural resources.

One host said: ‘We held a Psalm 23-inspired banquet in conjunction with harvest festival and Edible England. Everyone was given a copy of Psalm 23 and after a short introduction using Bible Society resources it was suggested we might talk about our experiences of the last 18 months. I think everyone was delighted to be meeting socially and there was lots of talking as well as eating!’

An outreach to adults with learning difficulties called Good News Group held a successful banquet for about 30 people. ‘We had teaching on Psalm 23 and to follow up we used the questions and sheets from the Bible Society resources, which provided some great answers. It was a great evening,’ they said.

Get your Psalm 23 resources