I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.
Wendell Berry, Woods
Over the school break we got away and walked among the trees. Tim and I traveled to Northern California and were blessed to be among giant Redwoods and Douglas Firs that grow close to the Pacific Coast. We walked the trail of the Grove of the Old Trees, a small Redwood grove owned by Sonoma County. We took quiet, slow steps on the narrow, needle strewn path that was created in the shape of peace symbol. Ferns and ivy covered the ground near the magnificent trees. You couldn’t help but feel you were in a sanctuary.
We also went to Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. Signs on the trails remind you that these ancient coast Redwoods are the tallest living things on our planet, growing 250 feet tall or more. Your eyes are drawn upwards, even when you can’t see the sky through the branches. I also found myself reverently touching their ancient bark, many of the trees well over 1,000 years old, some over 2,000 years old.
Unfortunately, some of the tree bark is now blackened. My fingers became sooty as I ran them along the deep ridges in the tree trunks. The trunks were scorched in the 2020 Wallbridge Fire, and yet the trees still stand, surviving once again.
We have so much to learn from the woods. It was good to walk softly and listen. We all need the blessing of the trees. We go to the woods to see the ways we are connected to the earth. This is urgent before we truly do burn it all down. After coming home I found a piece that one of my confirmands wrote about trees and Jesus. It’s a few years old but I saved it because I found it so moving.
Scott, who was 15 at the time wrote, “The world has grown quite far from God. We are merely trees in a jungle being torn down by a storm of conflict, some roots to God are no longer connected. In the clearing of this storm only some trees will stand. These are the trees that are strong in their faith. Back then, Jesus was a carpenter, but now he would be a gardener, he would need to plant new trees to spread his love, but he wouldn’t do it alone. Jesus would work with us to rebuild all that is good in the world, to make it even better. This is resurrection.”
May we know the blessed and the blessing of the trees.
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