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| Image by P Clement |
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A GREETING
You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.
(Psalm 40:17b)
A READING
I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to the skilful; but time and chance happen to them all. For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them. [But] just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. So, in the morning, sow your seed.
Banish anxiety from your mind.
(Ecclesiastes 9:11-12; 11:5-6; 10)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring
as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.
(Genesis 22:17)
A POEM
In the place that is my own place, whose earth
I am shaped in and must bear, there is an old tree growing,
a great sycamore that is a wondrous healer of itself.
Fences have been tied to it, nails driven into it,
hacks and whittles cut in it, the lightning has burned it.
There is no year it has flourished in
that has not harmed it. There is a hollow in it
that is its death, though its living brims whitely
at the lip of the darkness and flows outward.
Over all its scars has come the seamless white
of the bark. It bears the gnarls of its history
healed over. It has risen to a strange perfection
in the warp and bending of its long growth.
It has gathered all accidents into its purpose.
It has become the intention and radiance of its dark fate.
It is a fact, sublime, mystical and unassailable.
In all the country there is no other like it.
I recognize in it a principle, an indwelling
the same as itself, and greater, that I would be ruled by.
I see that it stands in its place and feeds upon it,
and is fed upon, and is native, and maker.
- "The Sycamore," by Wendell Berry
found in The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry
VERSE OF THE DAY
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.
(Psalm 46:2)
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| Uncredited image found on the site of Northumberland National Park. |
In the ancient world, the Greek and Hebrew words for ‘offspring’ are the same as the word for ‘seed’. In Genesis, we hear the word a number of times, including when God promises Abraham that his offspring or generations will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. The promise comes after he has been willing to sacrifice his own son to God, an impossible thing for us to imagine today. The relationship between seed, sacrifice and offspring is a tense one in the biblical story. In the laws of the Torah, the first born offspring animal was often the one offered up in sacrifice because it was considered to be the best, and God deserved the best. The law is echoed in the story of Jesus, the first and only son of God whose life is sacrificed.
The promise made by God to Abraham that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens highlights what is infinite and uncountable in the human experience. It is impossible for us to count the number of grains of sand in the world or to calculate the number of stars in the universe, although systems and methods for trying to do so no doubt exist. The same is true for seeds, and their proliferation. The comparison made by God to Abraham between his offspring and the stars in the heavens underscores an underlying relationship between God and humankind: the promise that despite the vastness and unpredictability of Creation, God is present at all times and covenants to always be with us.
In his poem The Sycamore, Wendell Berry describes the tension between life and death in an old sycamore tree in his own community. Its scars and brokenness reflect acts of nature and weather, but also of human beings in relationship to the tree. He describes it being hollow and yet still alive.
Right now, in a time of climate devastation, we find ourselves counting what is left of species, and marking when they have gone extinct, whether in the plant or animal world. It feels hard to believe that there can be an infinity of Creation in these times. We must take very seriously what we have destroyed and the demise of the planet, and at the same time put our faith in God that the planet will in fact survive. The work we have to do is to ensure that humankind will also.
When have you tried to put your faith in God’s abiding presence with you — and found it challenging? And when have you been reassured of God’s enduring, loving faith in you?
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A STORY OF HOPE
Last spring during the Lenten devotional project, one of the 'Stories of Endurance' visited the Sycamore Gap tree, the 150-year-old sycamore tree that has been a beautiful beacon in the landscape of Northumberland National Park in northeast England. It had enjoyed enormous popularity among visitors to the park and had been used in many films. In September 2023, the tree was felled in an act of vandalism. The outpouring of grief and anger was a testament to the beauty and meaning it had offered many. In November 2024, it was announced that seeds that had been harvested from the downed tree, have now become saplings and are thriving. In this linked article, you can read how these saplings have become part of a project called "Trees of Hope." The trees are being given to 49 community recipients in England, including a prison, many charities and an organization which itself cares for trees damaged by vandalism. In this way, the Sycamore Gap Tree will have its own offspring, which one day may be as numerous as the stars in the heavens.
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LC† Seeds of Hope is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!