Trees and the Fruit They Bear
“Trees and the Fruit They Bear” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! Kent Miller’s presence here is the culmination of almost nine months of effort on the part of Creekside’s Finance Team, trying to match a presenter and a date for information to be shared at Creekside. I’m sure the Sunday School session will be informative, even if it is all things you already knew. Listening to other people’s questions is a good way to begin to know what we don’t know.
I’m pretty sure — and Kent, correct me if I’m wrong — that Kent did not create these worship resources for Everence Stewardship Sunday, or come up with the title “Trees and the Fruit They Bear” for the Stewardship Sunday materials. I’m also pretty sure that Kent were not aware not aware that they would be walking into Tree of Life central this morning: from the decals on the windows of Creekside’s narthex and office, to the quilted wall hanging and lectern piece made by Jean Mann Graber, to the stained glass window of the tree with fruit, this building is full of tree images. And that is before you even step into my office or go out on the grounds where there are a dozen apple trees planted and growing.
This is partly because tree imagery resonates with me personally, but mostly because Creekside has a vision statement which fits pretty well with the theme, Trees and the Fruit they Bear. Say that vision statement with me if you know it. The preamble is: Like a tree which draws life from the river of God’s love, we are a Church of the Brethren congregation Rooted in God, Growing in Jesus, and Bearing Fruit in the Spirit. Thank you for making me look good when there’s a guest here.
When Judy De Pue, Betty Kelsey, Sabrina Fritz and I met with then-pastor David Bibbee to put together that vision statement more than 20 years ago, we referenced the same scriptures which Ted shared this morning, as well as the text from Revelation chapter 22 which was part of the Call to Worship we shared this morning. Before we go more deeply into those texts, I want to note two broad concepts: first, Christian living is always, always some combination of the theoretical and the practical. It’s my conviction the overlap of these two — how what we believe intersects with how we behave — is the theological. It’s great to believe and recite all the right things, but that only gets us part of the way to following Jesus. We actually have to put those things into practice, for ourselves and for other people, or our faith remains just a theoretical exercise. Conversely, if we do the right things, whatever you think those things are in terms of stewardship or service or witness, but we aren’t doing them with reference to our love for God or our call to follow Christ, then we’re kind of missing the point of being Christians. Our belief and behavior aren’t separate things, they are two parts of the same thing, and they can’t be pulled apart.
I mention this because I have pretty good reason to expect this sermon to lean toward the theoretical, and I hope that Kent’s presentation will be more about the practical — especially since that’s what we have asked him to do. But we will be describing the same tree. Trees do all kinds of great things — produce oxygen, give shade, give shelter to birds and other animals — but to be a fruit tree, it’s important to actually produce fruit.
That’s the first concept: here’s the second which some of you have heard me mention before, but I’m going to say it again because it’s still true. The concept of a tree of life is deeply rooted in the biblical imagination. The Bible begins with a garden; we call it the Garden of Eden, but it is the garden of God’s good creation. In the middle of that garden is the tree of life. There are other gardens of significance in the Christian part of that story: the Garden of Gethsemane and the olive grove where Jesus was arrested, and the garden where Christ appeared after he defeated death and was resurrected. And finally, and the very end of the Bible there is the text from Revelation 22 where the garden is God’s kingdom come to earth, where creation is restored to a place of right relationship with God and God’s Son, and the nations themselves experience healing through the tree of life. We are living between that first garden and the last one, but restoration, healing, and worship are where we are headed. Keep that bigger biblical picture in mind: trees are where we started and they are where we are going.
The text from Genesis 2 is not the description of Eve and Adam’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It happens before that; it’s the account of how that garden was created and populated. The water in that garden did not fall from the sky as rain, but came up from the ground to water the whole earth. This is a powerful image of the abundance and generosity of God in a culture where water was scarce. In a climate where water is the difference between life and death, for crops and livestock and people, water means life. This is an image of abundant life, and this river nourishes every tree which is pleasant to the sight and good for food — including the tree of life, which we’re not told much about–and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which will turn out to be quite problematic for the human residents of that garden.
The other set of trees for our consideration are not as mythical or momentous as the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They are, apparently, regular trees of an unspecified variety, doing regular tree things — that is, growing and being healthy and fruitful. What makes these trees notable is their location. They are also planted by a stream of water, but more importantly they are growing right out of the middle of Psalm 1. The psalms are the worship, prayer and songbook of the Hebrew people. There are 150 psalms, divided quite intentionally into 5 parts. Although these psalms would have been composed and collected over time, their organization is not accidental — the 5 Hallel or Praise psalms at the end of the collection end with a joyful noise, and this first psalm was almost certainly composed to set the tone for the whole collection. These trees are more than trees, of course; they’re people.
Psalm 1 sets the course for all of the psalms, and therefore the devotional and worship material of the Jewish faith community. It describes how people are happy when they turn away from the advice of the wicked and the path of sinners, and take delight in the law of the Lord. People who are righteous take strength from God’s law, they have purpose, they do not lose heart. As you know, there is a whole lot of material in the psalms which is not specifically about trees, but this opening simile which says righteous people are like trees is intended to help us understand some things about what it means to be righteous. It means to take delight in following God’s instructions: this goes way beyond a list of do’s and don’ts or should and should nots. Being righteous is much more about how we are and how we express our delight in God than it is a prescriptive list of what we ought to do. Or else.
Bearing fruit is what healthy fruit trees do. It isn’t the only characteristic of a healthy fruit tree, but it’s kinda important. If you have an orchard full of trees who say: “I’m more of a putting out leaves kind of tree. Some other tree will have to do the bearing fruit part” you are stuck with a bunch of trees which are not growing into their potential or purpose. It’ll be nice and shady, but you’d hope for more from a fruit tree. Of course, every tree needs favorable conditions to grow: that’s why we in the church should be arborists who nurture and encourage potential and purpose, and make sure that we never block access to the life-giving water and light of God’s love, which every tree needs to have.
Stewardship can be characterized in many ways: generosity, gratitude, sharing, care, commitment. Bearing fruit is one of the ways we express that, like trees planted by the water, we are rooted in God and growing in Jesus. It may not be the only expression of our love for God and our commitment to Christ, but it’s pretty hard for me to imagine a balanced Christian life which does not include generosity or gratitude. We each have different gifts — I think I’m a peach and I’m pretty sure you’re a crabapple — but God created us all and Christ came to redeem us all, and those things happened for a purpose. Variety is a good thing, but all of that variety is grounded in our lives together in Christian community. Stewardship of what we have together and what we have to use for others is essential for us to become the people God created us to be.
None of this is separate from the way we live our lives and the choices we make about our money — it is all part of the whole of how we express our love for God and our commitment to Jesus Christ. Stewardship is an aspect of following God’s instruction, but it is not a list of rules to follow, it is a way to delight in God’s good gifts, give thanks for God’s good gifts, and to help others experience God’s good gifts. I encourage you to join us in the Gathering Area following worship. Thanks to our Fellowship Team for providing cookies and drinks, and to Kent who will tell us some practical ways that we can make the best use of the gifts we have so that our church and world can flourish. Amen.