“Like flourishing trees”
Psalm 1 (May 12, 2024)
It was a “multi-million dollar rain!” So read the headline, referring to recent showers we’ve had here in Saskatchewan. Ian McCreary, who farms near Bladworth, remarked: “We feel pretty blessed right now. … we were so dry … this one is huge for the whole industry.” [1]
We all know water is crucial for life to flourish. It’s not just crops in the fields. Here in our urban landscape, its lawns and gardens and trees.
After a time of drought the grass is sparse and dry, the trees are stressed and leaves are thin. But give us a beautiful spring rain and the place is instantly transformed. The world turns lush and green. There’s still a whole summer ahead of us, isn’t there? But we’re off to a good start.
“Happy are those who delight in the law of the LORD,” says the Psalmist. “They are like trees planted by streams of water … their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.”
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This Psalm sets out two ways before us: Flourishing and withering. Fruitfulness and barrenness. Happiness and sadness.
Either we become like trees that grow full and beautiful and bear much fruit. Or we become like chaff that is empty and blown away.
Which are you? Which would you like to be?
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.”
Another word we could use is “blessed.” Here, at the very beginning of the book of Psalms, we’re given a blessing. A “beatitude!”
But notice, it’s a conditional blessing that flows from living a certain way: Not following the advice of the wicked, but delighting in the law of the LORD.
Now we should pause right there and note this phrase may be quite surprising. “Their delight is in the law.” Really? Do you find the law delightful? Do you relish more rules and commandments? Do you stay up at night memorizing city ordinances and building codes?
Is this what makes you want to come to church on a Sunday morning? “O honey, the service was so great today, the Pastor gave us another 20 rules to follow. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
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The way of life. Let’s call it the “Torah way.” Torah is a Hebrew word that is technically translated as “commandments.” And yes, it can refer to more than 600 individual commands contained within the Hebrew scripture.
But that is a very narrow interpretation. In Jewish tradition, Torah refers to the first five books of the Bible, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. These books contain commandments. But there is also so much more!
Think of the creation stories. Think of Noah and the ark. Abraham and Sarah. Joseph and his coat of many colours. Think of the Exodus, and the escape from Egypt through the waters of the sea.
Torah means instruction. Do these stories guide you, inform you? Don’t they tell us who we are, and how to live in this marvellous world that God has given?
The Torah is way more than rules! And in this sense, we can think of the tradition extending even further, to include the whole of scripture: the historical books, the prophets, and the wisdom literature. The Psalms themselves are divided into five sections, which mirror the books of the law.
“Think about these things,” the Psalmist tells us. Meditate on them day and night. Give them your attention. Keep them front and centre, all the time. Do that and you will find blessing.
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In our lives, we’re influenced by all kinds of things: The families we grow up in, our parents and those who went before us. What they taught us. What they did – or didn’t – do. None of us appeared out of nowhere. We carry this baggage forward into the lives we live today.
And we are influenced by the crowd we hang out with. This is especially true in our formative years as teenagers, when that group of peers exerts such a profound influence on our behaviour.
But this never goes away. We are social creatures. We listen to the talk that’s all around us. In the coffee shop, when we get together with our friends.
We listen to the news – whether mainstream or alternative, it matters not. The way we see the world, our outlook, and often our frame of mind, is shaped by the cultural sea we swim in.
The question is, do these things give us life? Do they lead us closer to God, or farther from God? Do we come away from them from finding ourselves refreshed – as though we’ve had a drink of God’s life-giving water? Or do we come away feeling more alienated, angry and dissatisfied?
What nourishes your life and makes it more whole, more complete and more loving? What greens the leaves on your tree?
The words of this Psalm invite us to critical reflection: Which of these two ways do we follow? Is it the Torah way? Is the word of God at the centre of our lives? Is it the living word, Jesus Christ?
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Now listen! Here’s the real invitation of this Psalm, the one that promises blessing:
It’s the invitation to sink our roots more deeply into God. Like a tree near life-giving water. We cannot live without this water. We cannot live, in any meaningful way, without the spiritual nourishment that God provides.
Do the stories of our faith inform and inspire our living? Do the prophets give us hope? Does the poetry of scripture give us language to use in prayer and praise? Does the risen Christ walk with us in every moment?
Today is the last Sunday in the Easter season, and this is what we celebrate: Christ in us, and with us. Jesus guiding the community of his disciples and showing us the way. “I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Listen to what the apostle Paul prays for us: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” (Ephesians 3:17)
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So we’re back to this beautiful image of a tree planted by streams of water. Trees have different strategies for how to get that water. But the result is the same.
This is a picture of a Cottonwood along a path by the river where Lindsay and I sometimes walk. These trees thrive in prairie river valleys. They depend on the water flooding occasionally, soaking into the ground. When that ground is muddy it provides a receptive base for seeds to begin new life.
And here’s a picture of a large Burr Oak. When the city landscaped the park in our neighbourhood recently they planted several of these. We have one in our back yard.
These trees are drought-tolerant. In times of little rain, they manage to survive by sinking a taproot deep into the ground. A one-year old sapling may have a root almost five feet deep![2]
Do you delight in the Torah? Do you pray? Do you value the community of faith? Do you immerse yourself in God’s free-flowing love?
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I said there were two ways. Here I’m quoting from Leslie Brandt’s translation, “Psalms Now:”
“The man who chooses to live a significant life
is not going to take his cues
from the religiously indifferent.
Nor will he conform to the crowd
or mouth his prejudices
nor dote on the failures of others.”
Brandt wrote these words back in the 70’s, so you’ll understand his exclusively masculine language. Yet I’m struck by how contemporary his description still sounds: religious indifference, conforming to the crowd, mouthing prejudice, doting on the failure of others.
These things are all around us. And sometimes they’re in us too!
There is no life in it. These things are chaff. An empty shell. When the wind blows, they are swept away. “Like sand in a desert storm,” writes Brandt, “or leaves in an autumn wind.”[3]
The world is full of dispute and controversy, and sometimes we find ourselves caught up in it. We’d better be careful to stay rooted in God’s love.
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Two ways, the Psalmist says. Life or death. One way enables us to flourish, like trees planted by streams of water. The other leads to withering up, and leaves falling off, and life slipping away.
When I stand back from this Psalm, I find myself asking, “Could it really be this simple?” Jesus, too, spoke about a path that is wide but leads to destruction, and a road that is narrow that leads to life. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Two choices. So which path are we on? Sometimes I feel like I have a foot on both of them! Which can’t be good. Because as these two ways diverge, I may find myself stretched to the breaking point. Do you feel that way too? Like you’re being torn or pulled in too many different directions? How do you choose the one that leads to life?
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“Trees planted by streams of water ... yield their fruit in season …” In the same way, Jesus said, “Every good tree bears good fruit.” (Matthew 7:17-20)
Does your life bring blessing to others around you? Does it spread God’s goodness and love?
Love is the final measure, I think, since the Torah can be summed up in two simple commands: “Love God and love your neighbour.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
When our lives are rooted in God’s life-giving water, this is the kind of fruit they bear.
I look at these quilts placed in front of us, and I see them as the fruit of lives that are living God’s way. I think of the mothers we honour this day, who have cared for us, nurtured us, and I see that too as a kind of fruit that embodies God’s love.
God’s way leads to life, more life, abundant life. Life for all people. Life that is flourishing!
The singer, Ken Medema, has a piece called the Tree Song. We used to sing it with our children.
“I’ve got roots growing down to the water
I’ve got leaves growing up to the sunshine
And the fruit I bear is a sign of the life in me …
I’m becoming what the Maker of trees has blessed me to be
A strong young tree”[4]
Who are you when you are most alive, when you are thriving? What has the Maker of trees blessed you to be? What does flourishing mean for you in the particular place where you are planted?
The Psalm invites us to live God’s way. To become “like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all they do they prosper.”
I pray that you will be that kind of tree!
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[1] Dayne Patterson · CBC News · Posted: May 07, 2024. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/rain-revives-soil-south-farm-season-1.7197235, Accessed May 7, 2024.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_macrocarpa, Accessed May 9, 2024.
[3] “Psalms/Now” by Leslie F. Brandt, c. 1973, Concordia Publishing House, p.7.
[4] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=ken+medema+tree+song+lyrics&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8, Accessed May 11, 2024.