The Trees of the Field

Last Friday I dusted off my hiking boots and joined a friend for a few miles of hiking at Stepstone Falls in the Arcadia management area. It was the quintessential warm fall day, with asters and goldenrod blooming, air warm enough to be in a t-shirt, and golden leaves covering the trails while the trees overhead still sported mostly green. The autumn olive trees were covered with berries and at one point we came across evidence of a nest of hatched turtles. The woods in fall are one of my favorite scents - and this day did not disappoint. 

Perhaps it is a given in Autumn, but I have spent a bit of time considering the trees lately. The tree that turns first on my street has already showcased its brilliant orange and we have weeks more of trees flaunting their Autumn glory. I’m concerned about one of my plum trees that dropped its leaves early. On the news I’m watching the palm trees in Florida bend under considerable force from the hurricane winds. And as I type this I’m waiting for the arborist to show up in the PMBC courtyard to remove three Bradford pear trees that are at the end of their healthy lifespan. 

With all this attention to trees, I’ve had the old-school “Trees of the Field” song playing on repeat in my head. This song comes straight from Isaiah 55:12-13:

For you shall go out in joy,

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you 

shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,

for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

When God declared all creation good, that included the trees. Is it any wonder that trees are so integral to our overall health and wellbeing? I’ve written about this before. Today I want to reflect just for a moment on how in this Isaiah text (and similarly in Romans 8:22-23) trees are right in the middle of God’s promise to bring Israel home from exile. They have a front row seat to God righting the injustices Israel experienced at the hands of others. What a great view that would give them!

Isaiah and the trees  remind us that justice can’t happen for one of us without happening for all of us. Justice wouldn’t happen for the displaced Israelites unless it also happened for the natural world. Justice is not only communal (involving all people) but also holistic (involving all of creation). 

This week as we watch so many horrors in the world unfold around us, let us consider the trees and the promise that God made to Israel that when they were brought home the trees would be standing sentinel - deciduous and pine would be front and center to creation’s worshiping of God. And then let’s ask ourselves - what do the trees need from us as we consider what it means to live as God’s people here and now? 

Blessings,

Pastor Amy