Season of Creation:
​Week 1- Forests

Psalm 139

For You have created my conscience.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You, for I am awesomely, wonderfully made!
Wonderful are Your works--
and my soul knows that very well.
My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me when I was unformed,
and in Your book were written the days that were formed--
when not one of them had come to be.

Genesis 2: 4b-15 ​

In the day that YHWH God made the earth and the heavens, every shrub of the field was not yet in the earth, and every herb of the field had not yet sprung up, for YHWH God had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no a human to serve the ground; but there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God fashioned a human being of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living being.
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the human whom he had formed. And, out of the ground YHWH God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge, good and bad. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. And YHWH God took the human and put him in the garden of Eden to work/serve it and to keep it.

Creation Consciousness Conflict 

Almost from the beginning we can see it... the conflict we humans face in being human with everything that goes with being human, and at the same time knowing that we humans are infused with the divine- think of it- we are made from dust, or from the Hebrew, adamah, ground- hence the word for the first human is Adam- meaning, from the ground- made from dirt, yet brought to life with heavenly breath-  fashioned higher than the earth, yet bound to it, to serve it, and care for it.
This dichotomy, human and divine, messes with us- the struggle to see and respond to the God within us while living day to day… What does God expect of us; how do we see ourselves; how do we live out everything God calls us to be when we ourselves know that we are no different from Adam, or Eve, or any other human who has walked the earth- all of us, exiled from Eden...

Ahhh, Eden- a creation starting place for life- a God-planted garden. Eden is that place of both innocence and education, of safety and exploration, boundaries and freedom.  She holds universal truths that resonate in and through all of humanity.  Eden, like all creation, begins with intention... with possibility- according to the text-when shrub and vegetation had not yet sprung up as there was not yet rain to water and no human to serve it...Before it was created, God saw what was yet unformed-of which humans, no, that needed humans to tend it and keep it and complete it.

Till, Work, Serve

Not exactly the narrative as we remember it- we often think of ourselves as the ones God created all of this for- that we, God’s masterpiece, should work the earth, stripping her of resources for our purposes, instead of being a part of the care and nurture of creation. It's troubling that our modern translations of scripture sometimes use the word, work, or till, or even dominate, in talking about our relationship with the earth and role in creation- but the Hebrew word for work, means serve and keep. Humans are placed into God's design as a helper of creation... we fulfill God's intention as we serve and care for the earth.  Eden is a place of education- so let’s look to her as a starting place.

Tree of Life, Disneys Animal Kingdom, Orlando, Florida. By Jennifer Lynn (3)

Trees

​The first thing mentioned in Eden are trees- out of the ground YHWH God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ​That trees are mentioned first shows not just their prominence but our dependence on them for life. 
Did you know there are over 60,000 known species of trees in the world- 60,065 to be exact? (1) Talk about diversity! Only 2 are mentioned by name- the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge, good and bad… we don’t know what species they were- most of us learned the tree of knowledge was some type of apple tree, or maybe a pomegranate- it doesn’t matter, really- mention forbidden fruit and everyone knows what tree you’re talking about- it’s universal.  The tree of life species, well, depends on the culture- Celtic and Norse mythology say it was a yew or ash tree, Egyptians thought it was acacia, for Hindus it is known as a Banyan tree, and for the late great Walt Disney, the tree of life is celebrated as a sculpted baobab tree with over 8000 branches and 102,000 artificial leaves now gracing his Florida resort. (2)
It's all good; the meaning is more important than the actual tree species. For most cultures and faiths, the tree of life has to do with our interconnectedness to each other and to the divine.  A fitting explanation, as trees model interconnectedness in their very existence. "...Trees have their own sort of nervous system that is capable of facilitating tree communication, memory and learning. Trees share nutrients through their roots, forming a complex system sometimes referred to as the “wood wide web.”  By using a ... chemical signal sent through the... network, trees can warn their neighbors about an invasive predator or to inhibit growth of invasive plant species. Surrounding trees can then defend themselves by releasing … hormones or chemicals to deter predators or pathogenic bugs. It was even found that trees can send a stress signal to nearby trees after a major forest disturbance, such as deforestation." (4)

A Delicate Balance

Amazing, right? Trees function and care for one another, well, how people are meant to… Interconnected, communicative, sharing essentials, warning and protecting one another from danger... Also, trees that grow together in groups, like in forests, are much healthier than those that grow alone, in more urban settings. Living creatures are not meant to be isolated, or to live outside of community...  no matter what species one is.  It’s why we’ve had such a difficult time during the coronavirus being apart from one another- connection and community lie at our core- they are the center of our faith.  But for some reason, this system of care we call community, in relationship with one another and with God, has become for us humans, not an easy thing to keep.  The struggle to be who God intended us to be while we were yet unformed, harmonic beings with all living things, and our propensity toward taking more than we need, is real.   In fact, not living within the balance of that system is what got humans, according to the story, tossed out of Eden… we took earth’s resources for ourselves, gave ourselves dominance in the garden, and shattered the balance.
Yet, still and all, God continues to provide for us, nature, creation, trees, plants, animals, seas, stars, grace us with life in abundance and is in looking to the living things around us that we can learn how to get back into balance and quell the struggle.   The living things of nature continue to live out God’s design, despite what we might do to them. 
The Joyce Kilmer poem we began with today talks of a tree, that looks at God all day- branches raised to God as lofty arms in prayer.  So simple… Trees do what they are intended to do- they live in relation to other living things- they breathe- inhaling carbon and exhaling oxygen- we reciprocate for them, they communicate, nourish, serve, and do it all without a word.  All the while, gazing up at God and declaring, I am awesomely and wonderfully made! 
We can learn much from the trees, about living out what God intended for us, before we were yet formed… Our role, our purpose, is similar. We are to communicate, nourish and serve, which also plays out in healing, reconciliation, forgiveness, mercy, and justice… and to do it all with reverence, in balance within the created order of life.
I know it sounds like a tall order… the things is, this is what we’re created to do- we are made for this.  That means that each of us possess everything we need to do it, to learn to live as God intends.  How? In the words of Meister Eckhart, by letting go of ourselves and letting God be God in us… like the trees-
And I know we worry about what we’re supposed to be doing and the ways we mess up, that we seem at times, so far from what God intended for us, that we should just give up.  But I know this to be true- that when we act for ourselves only, when we take more than is ours, when we live in fear, or anger, or hatred, we are not being true to ourselves.  It’s why those emotions are known as negative- they don’t make you feel good, because it’s not who you are at your core.  God created you, me, us, to live a very simple yet fulfilling life, and has provided everything we need to do it- this, your soul knows very well, in the words of the Psalmist- we just have to look deep enough inside to find this truth; it lies in the depth of your soul- and just be being you, is what can restore that delicate balance- perhaps it is yet unformed, but the possibilitiy to bring about a new creation lie before us… dream God’s dream with me- remember, we are rooted to one another and infused with divine breath… let’s lift our faces to the heavens, raise our lofty arms in prayer and declare before God and all creation, Glorious are you works oh God, we praise you- for we are awesomely and wonderfully made!   
 

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(1) ww.bbc.com › news › science-environment-39492977​​
(2 )https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life_(Disney)
(3) By Jennifer Lynn - Disney Animal Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49680373
(4) ​http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/exploring-the-underground-network-of-trees-the-nervous-system-of-the-forest/