How can we believe
That trees even burned can sing
Praise and trust in You?
Only ancient ones
Sing to the Lord a new song
When Justice has fled.
Their hope makes me weep.
Dare I let their trust in you
Lift up my own heart?
Banish gods of fear.
Help me hear the earth rejoice.
And heal me with Love
So I too sing Love.
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This poem by my good friend Ruah Bull captures so beautifully what I've been trying to address this week around the invitation to trust. It is part of our collective reflection on those who lost so much in the fires of northern California and now also the thousands in southern California going through the same devastation as I write this devotion.
Redwoods especially, but also oak trees, have the capacity to withstand the repeated fires that have been part of this area for millennia. Sometimes ancient redwoods become hollowed out by repeated fires and yet continue to thrive through the decades and centuries. They stand as monuments to perseverance and hope, as already with the rains of early December, the burned hills are beginning to turn green with new growth.
I look around at those who seem to be able to hang on in the midst of disaster--and trust. Like the redwoods "their hope makes me weep." And yet that is the promise of the scriptures' witnesses to God's presence and work in their lives. Whatever is happening in our lives God promises somehow to bring new life. Not the old life. Not the same life we've known, but something new and worth living for. It's always a risk to trust. But whatever life brings, this week's witnesses have invited us to ask that God "heal me with Love so I too sing Love." And then we too can be a source of hope for those daring to hope--and trust.
Loving, healing, life giving God, may we be so filled with hope and trust, even like those ancient redwoods. Amen.
Redwoods especially, but also oak trees, have the capacity to withstand the repeated fires that have been part of this area for millennia. Sometimes ancient redwoods become hollowed out by repeated fires and yet continue to thrive through the decades and centuries. They stand as monuments to perseverance and hope, as already with the rains of early December, the burned hills are beginning to turn green with new growth.
I look around at those who seem to be able to hang on in the midst of disaster--and trust. Like the redwoods "their hope makes me weep." And yet that is the promise of the scriptures' witnesses to God's presence and work in their lives. Whatever is happening in our lives God promises somehow to bring new life. Not the old life. Not the same life we've known, but something new and worth living for. It's always a risk to trust. But whatever life brings, this week's witnesses have invited us to ask that God "heal me with Love so I too sing Love." And then we too can be a source of hope for those daring to hope--and trust.
Loving, healing, life giving God, may we be so filled with hope and trust, even like those ancient redwoods. Amen.
Tim Kellgren, '71
Retired Pastor of Elim Lutheran Church, Petaluma, Calif.
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