First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, NY
Rev. Dr. Karen Crawford
Aug. 2, 2025
It is rare for a pastor to meet in her congregation a young man who possesses the gifts and talents of Daniel Davidsen. It is rarer still to meet a young man whose heart is for serving God and neighbor.
Daniel grew up in our congregation. He sang in our children’s choir and with our Christmas carolers to bring joy to homebound members. He helped wrap presents for needy children in our annual Adopt-an-Angel mission and decorated the church for Advent during our mission-focused Sunday that we call Preparing the Presence. He has assisted the Flower Guild with arranging poinsettias and lilies in the sanctuary, a job where his height comes in handy.
My first encounter with Daniel was when he came to my first worship and congregational meeting in March 2022. He was smartly dressed in a suit, listening intently to the message, ready to welcome his new pastor, and listening for a word from the Lord for his life. He takes seriously the commitments he made when he confirmed his faith in 2020, making church a priority in his busy life, even now while he is home on summer break from Dartmouth. He serves frequently as our pulpit assistant, using a strong, clear voice and pleasant expression. He doesn’t need a microphone! He is mature, friendly, polite, cheerful, sensitive, and caring. He wiped away tears while sharing about the death of a friend, a fellow Scout.
What I noticed right away about Daniel is that he is always willing to help. When asked, he says yes and does his best, never doing anything halfway. He has cheerfully attended many church and manse Saturday workdays, without complaint. His most recent service for the church and his Eagle project is a prayer garden, built and maintained with the help of family, friends, some Scouts, and the church.
When he approached the Trustees and me about the garden, I couldn’t believe he had come up with this idea without talking with me first, because at the same time I was beginning my doctoral project, which coincidentally, if you believe in coincidences, was about the spirituality of Presbyterians who garden. The plot of ground that was fertile for his garden was an overgrown, weedy kitchen garden that had been neglected for a while.
But there was extensive sitework that had to be done before the garden could be dug and planted—new fencing, new pavers and poured cement walkway. The rusty iron rail needed a fresh coat of black paint.
What you will see when you visit the space is that it isn’t an ordinary place for a prayer garden. If you sit on the circular iron bench, you will see and hear traffic lined up and passing through the busiest intersection in Smithtown at most times of the day and probably into the night. In this way, the beautiful garden, filled with perennial flowers, shrubs, and ornamental grasses, as well as a birdbath to attract pollinators, is a witness to our community of our love for our Creator God and our spiritual and physical connection to the soil. It is a place of rest and welcome for all visitors and weary passersby, and not just members of our flock. Though it is rarely quiet there, it is a comfortable, inviting place where people can come and talk with God, find peace, and discover the will of the Spirit for their lives.
The congregation, along with some Scouts, dedicated the prayer garden on Aug. 25 with an outdoor worship service. This provided us with yet another opportunity for this somewhat shy group of Presbyterians to shine our light and reach out to the folks driving through the intersection or stuck in traffic with the love, joy, and peace of Christ.
Thank you, Daniel, for your gift to your church and wider community, for the sake of the Lord and God’s children. This is a gift that will keep on giving because gardens, like all living creatures, never stay the same. They will always need our tending, visiting, and appreciating. They grow and change every day and are vulnerable and exposed, like we are, to whatever is happening in the world. May we, also, grow and change every day as we cast our cares on the Spirit that lives in the garden. This same Spirit lives in our hearts and will transform us as God’s people, more and more, for many years to come. Amen.
Sharing God's Love and Grace 