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Revelation 22:1-7
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7 “See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
In 2012, ten years ago, I went to Ring Lake Ranch in Wyoming for the very first time. The speaker, the leader for the week was Belden Lane, professor of theology and spirituality (now retired) at St. Louis University. While I’ve now read and appreciate his many books, at the time I didn’t know anything about him, only that his topic was outdoor spirituality.
And on the first night, when he began to talk about the conversations he would have with trees, I thought it was a metaphor. I thought he was taking a bit of creative license. It took me about thirty minutes to realize that there wasn’t anything exaggerated about what he was saying. He was telling us about his conversation with trees. The things he said to them and, the things they said to him. And at first, well, I thought he might be a bit off of his rocker. But I’ll be honest with you. Since then. As I’ve pondered his practices in the years since then, I’ve come to believe that he might be among the more sensible in our midst.
After all, trees are active participants throughout the Bible. There is the tree of life in our reading from today, from the very last chapter of the very last book of the Bible.
And we begin the Bible with this same tree reference, the Tree of Life in the second chapter of Genesis. We’re told in the garden that the Tree of Life is there separate and apart from the tree from which Adam and Eve are told not to eat.
In between the beginning and the end, there are oaks, sycamores, almonds, mustard, fig, chestnut, and cedar.
Belden Lane reminds us in his book “Ravished by Beauty: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality,” when he introduces readers to the hundred-year-old cottonwood tree he calls “Grandfather,” and with whom he converses regularly:[1]
Christians originally learned of the singing, speaking, and feeling the power of trees from Scripture itself. Isaiah, like many of the prophets, spoke of trees clapping their hands for joy, while recognizing also the terror felt by exposed stands of cypress in a high Judean wind (Isa. 55:12; 7:2). Trees, we’re told, have knowledge of Yahweh (Ezek. 17:24), they can grieve and be consoled (Ezek 31:15f), they readily sing in anticipation of the coming of the King (I Chron. 16:33). Trees speak, of course, in the same way, that humans do, through a process of wind passing over cords or membranes like leaves. Anyone who has ever camped on a windy night under singing larches in Glacier National Park will never doubt the fact. Nectarius, a recently canonized saint in the Orthodox tradition, taught an entire community of nuns on the island of Egina to recognize the different songs of trees. One of his confreres could graft one sapling to another with amazing skill by carefully discerning the harmony of their songs. Anyone who listened with deliberate skill, he said, could hear the subtle vibrations of circulating sap.
He continues:
The tree that has touched me most deeply is a 100-year-old male eastern cottonwood that I call Grandfather. He’s a member of the poplar family. His leaves flutter like aspen trees in the slightest breeze.
I spend more time with my Grandfather than I do with most of my friends. He lives in the park across the street from my house. Every evening I go over to him, leaning into his hollow, entering into a practice of contemplative prayer. I let go of thoughts and words, releasing what’s been rummaging around inside me through the day. At times something unexpected arises. Is it from inside me or from inside him? I never know for sure. It may be a feeling of being unaccountably loved at that moment, feeling utterly at home in the hollow of a tree.
Trees are significant. And none less than the Tree of Life lifted up in the book of Revelation.
This is no ordinary tree. While the singular word is used, this is likely multiple trees, on either side of the river, there are trees. 12 different fruits are produced- food for the people to eat in addition to the water which flows there. 12 months. 12 tribes. 12 disciples. And the leaves are for the healing of the nations.
And reading this, I cannot help but wonder if John, the author of Revelation, knew more than he knew he knew about trees.
The singular is used, but there are clearly multiple trees in place. Or are there?
Have you read what we’ve been learning about trees in the last few years? That there aren’t really separate trees, after all?
There is, of course, the metaphor for one tree, like the trees being planted in Haiti that are not just holding ground and preventing erosion but are renewing the soil and fostering communities. Trees some of you planted with an organization that this congregation helped start – an organization that has now planted more than 13 million trees in Haiti. One project, one nation, and 13 million trees.[2]
But there’s also the science behind this belief.
You have aspen groves – where the trees are, quite literally, not individual, but identical, a part of the much larger organism[3]
And have you followed the research and writings of Suzanne Simard in her book “Finding the Mother Tree”? She writes that as she began to study:[4]
The trees soon revealed startling secrets. I discovered that they are in a web of interdependence, linked by a system of underground channels, where they perceive and connect and relate with an ancient intricacy and wisdom that can no longer be denied. I conducted hundreds of experiments, with one discovery leading to the next, and through this quest, I uncovered the lessons of tree-to-tree communication, of the relationships that create a forest society…through a cryptic underground fungal network. When I followed the clandestine path of the conversations, I learned that this network is pervasive throughout the entire forest floor, connecting all the trees in a constellation of tree hubs and fungal links. A crude map revealed, stunningly, that the biggest, oldest timbers are the sources of fungal connections to regenerating seedlings. Not only that, they connect to all their neighbors.
Did the author of Revelation know?
Of course, there is knowing and then there is knowing, but I love this image of the trees in revelation – the Tree of Life - calling us to see afresh and anew not only the abundance that surrounds us but the network that connects us.
Because that is a theme, and some say The theme, of Revelation. The reminder that to welcome the kingdom of God vertically we must experience it horizontally.
In Revelation, there isn’t just one nation, but all the nations. And this is what the Tree of Life calls us to, a bigger picture. A bigger understanding. The promise of a new world in the book of Revelation is about community. It is about connectedness. It isn’t about one side defeating another it is about the ways in which God draws us together. The City in Revelation does not have a gate, because it’s never needed. The doors are not closed, there is no fear of invaders or worry for safety. There is no temple because the life of faith is so integrated, each breath is prayer. There is health. There is hope.[5]
The author of revelation ends not by sending us into the weeds, but by taking us to the canopy, to remind us of that to which we aspire. The hope that sustains. The roots that go deep and the fruit that feeds us, heart and soul.
I don’t know Barrett Ingram. He’s the pastor of Clarkton Presbyterian Church, but a member of this congregation sent me a devotion he wrote:[6]
The other day, I was searching for a particular quotation and, as so often happens, came across another that I found intriguing. It was from the French writer, poet, and pioneering aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. He said, “If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
As I thought about this quote, I thought it might strike a little close to home with our various efforts in and on behalf of the church. How much of our time is spent herding people together and assigning tasks and work? But I wonder if amid the tasks and work we sometimes miss the bigger picture. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the demands of the details that our priorities become obscured. We lose sight of why we do what we do.
I believe this is what the author of Revelation is trying to do. What the Tree of Life calls us to remember. And today, what I invite us to hold dear.
The kingdom of God, a place where there is no sorrow or sighing but health and life everlasting,
And it’s not out there. It’s not in some far away time. It’s right here. In the fellowship we share. The love that holds us together. The waters of baptism.
And it’s hear. So very clearly. So very preciously.
As a relative newcomer to this congregation, I want you to hear this, and I want you to hear it clearly. Y’all have something special here. I experience in the way that you love one another. The ways that you care for the persons both inside and outside these doors. In your willingness to learn and grow.
We’re not perfect. Nor are we superheroes. I believe it’s that you have that vision. And you know how to pay attention.
And we live in a world whose news cycles want us to focus on the outrage of the moment, the horror of the day. And it’s so easy to do that. But when you are in danger of falling down that rabbit hole, When the job or the parenting or the homework or the relationship or the illness or the grief or the headlines get to be more than you think you can handle. I want you to remember the trees. And the Tree of Life that is a gift from God. The fellowship that feeds and welcomes without boundary or expectation. That there are places, this one among them, where a welcome is promised and love is on the table.
Trees call us back to Genesis, they celebrate God and they were a part of the cross that brings us eternal life. Trees feed us and give us clean air. Trees like the ones planted by this congregation in Haiti with a program you helped start, a program that has now planted more than 13 million trees. Trees that hold ground and renew the soil. Trees are an invitation to consider things that are eternal, not bound by time.[7]
I Go Among Trees
by Wendell Berry
I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.
Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.
Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.
After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.
May today’s Tree of Life be a reminder not just of what is, but what can be, to remind us of the love for the kingdom God has knit within each of our souls.
Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
And maybe, just maybe, the next time you pass a tree that catches your eye, you might want to stop to hear what it has to say. It might or might not speak. But we know we need to listen.
Alleluia. Amen.
Also utilized in the sermon:
Jorgenson, Kiara A. 2021. “Wisdom in Looking to Green.” Word & World 41 (3): 239–46. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a6h&AN=ATLAiREM210930000756&site=ehost-live.
Weidenaar, John. 1958. “The Revelation in the Garden.” Reformed Journal 8 (9): 16–19. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a6h&AN=ATLA0001935283&site=ehost-live.
Wong, Daniel K K. 1998. “The Tree of Life in Revelation 2:7.” Bibliotheca Sacra 155 (618): 211–26. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a6h&AN=ATLA0000998590&site=ehost-live.
Gilchrest, Eric J. “Dinner in Paradise: The Fruit of the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem.” Review & Expositor 117, no. 4 (November 2020): 566–71. doi:10.1177/0034637320973784.
Harding, Rachel E. “You Got a Right to the Tree of Life: African American Spirituals and Religions of the Diaspora.” Cross Currents 57, no. 2 (Sum 2007): 266–80. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a6h&AN=ATLA0001601970&site=ehost-live.
Lai, Pan-chiu. “God of Life and Ecological Theology: A Chinese Christian Perspective.” The Ecumenical Review 65, no. 1 (March 2013): 67–82. doi:10.1111/erev.12027.
Leander Keck, Editor, “New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary: Volume XII,” (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998). Revelation, by Christopher Rowland, pages 732-734.
Nancy Declaisse-Walford, the entry “The Tree of Life” in the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 5 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009), pages 660-661.
[1] Belden Lane. Ravished by Beauty: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pages 124-128.
Kiara Jorgenson seconds these references: Pausing to absorb the meaning of such marvels may prompt any of us to
understand Scripture’s trees in a whole new light and lead us to consider the ways our spiritual ancestors have interpreted these powerful life forces. We might take further note of how tamarisk, oaks, and palms memorialize God’s faithfulness throughout the Torah; in contrast to cairns of stone, they are said to be living ebenezers (Gen 21:33; 35:8; Exod 15:27). We ought to recall Second Isaiah’s groves of interconnected cedar, acacia, and cypress, which repeatedly serve as reminders of God’s goodness (Isa 41:19-20; 60:12-13). So too we can notice afresh how warnings against deforestation (Deut 20:19-20; Rev 18:9-17) coupled with metaphors of life springing forth from olive tree stumps (Job 14:7; Isa 11:1; Hos 14:5—6) to make plain the true source of hope. And of course, there are myriad references to the Tree of Life (Dan 4:10-12; Ezek 47:12; Prov 3:18; Rev 22:2), known to have healing power and provide sustenance for all of creation. Indeed, if we read the Scriptures as a kind of environmental narrative—that is, a way of understanding how the ancients both interpreted and constructed meaning from their ecological realities—trees loom large and offer many lessons. Time and again they prove resourceful in drought, resilient in the face of violence, collaborative and fecund in especially diverse landscapes, and generous with the many ecological services they offer.
[2] https://www.haitifundinc.org/
[3] https://www.nationalforests.org/blog/tree-profile-aspen-so-much-more-than-a-tree
[4] Simard, Suzanne. Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2021. Kindle edition.
[5] Blount, Brian K.. Revelation (2009): A Commentary (The New Testament Library). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2013. Kindle edition.
[6] I cannot find the newsletter online, but it was shared with me by email by William Lathan. Clarkton Presbyterian is the church where he grew up.
[7] Wong, Daniel K K. 1998. “The Tree of Life in Revelation 2:7.” Bibliotheca Sacra 155 (618): 211–26. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a6h&AN=ATLA0000998590&site=ehost-live.
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