In this time of disruption
and destabilization, I am fed by even the metaphor of constancy and
stability.

“They shall be like a
tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.”  
(Jeremiah 17:8a)

I want to spend a moment
with those trees, and think about what it might be like to be like
one of those trees.  To have constant, easy access to water.  To be
able to grow strong.  To know the world as dependable place.  To be
able to BE dependable because of having constant access to needs
being met.  

Jeremiah speaks to people
who know and live in a desert.  Sun is abundant.  Air is abundant.
Water is not.  To be a tree planted by streams of water in a desert
is to be: safe.

To have deep roots.  To be
able with withstand whatever comes.

The tree, “shall not
fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of
drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.”  
(Jeremiah 17:8b)

Oh my!  “It is not
anxious!”  What a delight to think about!

Jeremiah presents these
trees as being like those who trust in and depend on God, in contrast
to those who put their trust in their own powers or in the ways of
the world.  Jeremiah urges us to seek God, to trust God, to be lifted
up and fed by the Holy, and to seek the WAYS of God rather than the
WAYS of the world.  (To make that difference overly simple, the ways
of the world are competitive, hierarchical, violent, and value some
lives and not others.  The ways of God are cooperative, un-ranked,
nonviolent, and values all.)

Now, I’m going to say
something pastors don’t say much:  this metaphor shouldn’t be
extended TOO far.  If God is like water that keeps a tree alive and
enables it go strong and bear fruit, great.  But, water is not the
need of a tree.  And, with a few possible exceptions, God is not the
ONLY need of humans.

I mention this because
even before the pandemic we were living in a society with a crisis of
loneliness, and the pandemic has deepened the crisis.  A tree needs
water.  Yes.  We need God.  YES!  AND, a tree needs air and sunlight.
And we need each other, and we need REST.  Jeremiah warns people not
to depend on our own strength or on “mere mortals” but I’m going
to remind you that as a human being you need God, and people, and
rest.

If you are lonely, that
doesn’t mean you are unfaithful.

If you are tired, that
doesn’t mean you are unfaithful.

In fact, those warnings
Jeremiah offered about what NOT to trust  may apply here.  We cannot
depend on our own strength in a system that demands more of us than a
human can give without getting tired.  Tired comes because human
systems are set up WRONG.  Likewise with lonely.  Our society is set
up to keep us distanced and displeased so we’ll BUY more things, and
the forces that keep us distanced are POWERFUL.  Being lonely

is a part of living in our
world today, which is set up wrong.  

Part of what we dream
together as a Body of Christ seeking to build the kindom of God  is
what a world would look like where people are able to SURVIVE and
THRIVE.  We are seeking to use our lives to build a world where
people have dependable access to God, to live-giving relationships,
and to sustainable patterns of rest.

We dream of a time when
people are like trees planted by streams of water, with plenty of
fresh air, and sunlight, so that they can grow up strong and bold,
courageous and loving, whole and able to provide healing for others.

(As was recently mentioned
after I went off on another ramble about trees, you see very clearly
how passionate I am about trees when I am given the chance to talk
about them.)

Now, perhaps you thought
that if I was given one of the most famous texts in all of
Christianity to preach on, I might focus on that, and you aren’t
WRONG.  I’m getting there.  Except, that interestingly enough, Luke’s
version of this particular story is NOT the famous one.  Matthew’s
is, because Matthew’s is a lot easier to stomach.  Matthew gives only
blessings.  Luke includes woes.  Matthew talks about the “poor in
spirit” and “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
Luke talks about the “poor” and the “hungry.”

Right from the get-go,
Luke’s story isn’t Matthew’s.  Matthew tells of the “Sermon on the
Mount”  – a pragmatic choice as a mountain would help with
acoustics.  Luke tells of the “Sermon on the Plain,” making
emphatically clear that Luke is telling a story of God’s interest in
LEVELING.

Debie Thomas, an
incredible theologian, on the incredible blog “Journey with Jesus”
summarizes well:

Then,
standing “on a level place” with the crowd, he tells his would-be
followers what life in God’s upside-down kingdom looks like. 
Those who are destitute, unfed, grieving, and marginalized can “leap
for joy,” because they have God’s ear and God’s blessing. 
But those who are wealthy, full-bellied, carefree, and well-liked
should watch out, because their condition is precarious, not
enviable.  The material “blessings” they cherish most, the
very possessions and attributes they consider signs of God’s favor,
are in fact liabilities that might do them spiritual harm.¹

Ms. Thomas reflects deeply
about the material blessings she has, and how they may in fact get in
the way of her awareness of her dependence on God.  She points out
though, that this text isn’t about celebrating misery or hardship,
because immediately before this teaching, Jesus heals and eliminates
suffering.  We aren’t told to seek hardship.  Rather, we’re invited
to see the world as it is.  

Ms. Thomas reflects:

Notice also that Jesus
doesn’t offer four blessings to one audience, and four woes to
another.  His sermon is not a sorting exercise between the good
folks and the bad folks; he addresses every
blessing and every
woe to every
person.  As if to say: this is the human pattern.  This is
where all of us live.  We move from blessing to woe over and
over again in the course of our lives. We
invite blessing every time we find ourselves empty and yearning for
God, and we invite woe every time we retreat into smug and
thoughtless self-satisfaction.  …I think what Jesus is saying in
this Gospel is that I have something to learn about discipleship that
my life circumstances will not teach me.

She
uses this as an invitation to humility for learning from those who
have learned discipleship from a different place.  

I’ll
admit, that when I think about those metaphorical trees planted by
streams of water, with their healthy fruit, their strong trunks, and
their sense of dependability in the world,  – a place I’d like
everyone to get to,I currently worry a little bit that they may look
at the trees whose access to water is less dependable and think them
unproductive.  Or, the trees planted near air polluting factories,
and think them weak.   Or, the “full light” trees planted in the
shade, and think them  not trying hard enough.

(Our
yard doesn’t ever have “full sun” and we keep trying to plant
veggies anyway, and they always seem less productive and less healthy
than, say, those planted where they get what they actually need.  And
the perfect amount of water doesn’t actually overcome the lack of
sun.)

Worse,
yet, I fear that the trees planted far from the streams of water may
judge THEMSELVES in the ways that the trees near the stream do,
without taking into account the differences in access.

I
think, as well, about tree line.  About the point on the mountain
when it is too high, too cold, too oxygen deprived, too windy for
trees to keep growing.  And I think about the trees JUST BELOW “tree
line” that look short, sickly, and quite often bent by the wind.  

Jeremiah
is encouraging us to be dependent on God and focused on God’s will.
I agree, AND I think what Debie Thomas is saying is that the trees
just before tree line, and the shrubs in the desert, as well as the
ones influenced by pollution have a whole lot to teach the trees by
streams of water about scrappy survival, resilience, trust, and
faith.

So,
dear ones, where ever you feel planted, may you thrive as much as it
is possible.  AND may you take note of where you are planted, and
where others are planted, and make sure to learn from those whose
location is different from yours.  After all, God is with us
everywhere, and each of us are therefore able to glean the wisdom of
the Divine from exactly where we are.  Thanks be to God.  Amen

1Debie
Thomas, Journey with Jesus (webzine), Lectionary Essay for 2/13/2022
entitled “Leveled”
https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/3319-leveled.

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she/her/hers
http://fumcschenectady.org/
https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

February 20, 2022