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Psalm 52.8,9:

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God: I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

 

The olive tree is one of the longest-living trees.  

One of our stops in Israel was at the believed-location of the Garden of Gethsemane. Located in the central portion of the garden is an olive tree. What is outstanding about this tree is not just its suspected age, but also how an olive tree renews itself from within. The outer part may appear dead, while the central core lives.

 

Moving to Vancouver Island, we have visited Cathedral Grove on the highway to Port Alberni. This grove is a protected provincial heritage site. Among the numerous ancient giants are a few which, at the base have been touched by fire, yet looking up you see the tree continues to thrive.                

Over the years here in British Columbia, there has been a growing awareness of the need to protect our forests, our ‘old-growth’ forests--the giants which lend their heritage to the rebirth of our forests.                

Our Christian worship spaces are like a metaphor for the olive tree, the giants of Cathedral Grove, and our old-growth forests. The place we gather in for worship is the place from which we find our growth from within. It is the place where we are nurtured, like the trees of the forests, and the olive tree groves around the world. Each requires fostering.                

Fostering requires strength, perseverance, wisdom and knowledge. All of this comes from living within community. In the old growth forest, each genus is dependent on the other. Each produce seeds which fall to the ground. The new seedling is protected from the older growth surrounding it.                

Today, the olive grove is tended by the gardener (vine-dresser). Each seedling is tenderly protected by the gardener. The gardener takes the place of the natural nourishing and protection we experience in the natural forest.                

The Christian church has a history of nurturing, protecting, celebrating, as well as systems of fostering those qualities of strength, perseverance, wisdom, and knowledge.                

These are all essential within the gift of creation we celebrate in Genesis Chapters 1 & 2. From our humble beginnings in creation, we experience the need for community. The Psalmist today shares with us the need for community. Community trumps individualism. As we meet each new day we are called to value, and encourage, community.                

Parishes will soon be called together to review the past year. More significantly we are called to look to how in community we will plant seeds of new growth. How we will accept the challenge to protect, nourish and cultivate those new ideas.                

Remember each day begins like a “green” olive tree in the house of God. Like the forest, we are called to be connected and dependant on the other.

 

Blessings, Archdeacon Brian