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“Tending to the Tree of Life”
July 23, 2006
Genesis 2:4-9; Revelation 22:1-6
Rev. Tonya ArnesenHigh in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah there stands a magnificent forest of aspen trees. For centuries it has been home to a vast variety of wildlife. Thousands of birds nest in its branches. Deer and rabbits graze upon the tall grasses and sweet leaves that abound around the trees. Animals of many kinds find shelter from the sun or storm beneath that golden canopy. And in recent days, botanists have flocked there, as well. They come not to admire the beauty, so much as to see for themselves what is almost too amazing to believe. They come to study the wonder of what appears to be a massive forest, but is in reality, just one tree.
That’s right, just one tree! At the center of that forest is one grand and ancient tree which botanists have dubbed "Pando," which is a Latin word that means "I spread." It’s an appropriate name. For centuries, this one tree – Pando – has spread out his roots across a span of about 160 acres. As the one tree grew, it sent up more than 47,000 offshoots, which created 47,000 more trees which reach towards the heavens, their branches creating a safe sanctuary for the creatures of the field and the birds of the air. According to the US Forest Service, Pando is considered the world’s largest single organism. (from US Forest Service website)
And yet, that’s where scientists and theologians may beg to differ. For as staggeringly magnificent as Pando is, he’s just a twig compared to the true Tree of Life. Genesis tells us that at the dawn of time, God placed "in the middle of the garden" of creation the "Tree of Life." For centuries, theologians have debated the significance of that tree. Was it a literal life form or a poetic symbol to describe the relationship between God and humanity?
As far as I’m concerned, whether made of bark or belief, the Tree of Life symbolizes the very life of God dwelling in the midst of creation. The fruit of this tree is eternal life – the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. So the simple message is this: life eternal AND life abundant is only to be found in God’s presence – in the Tree of Life.
You remember the story of the Fall – human rebellion against the lordship of God led Adam and Eve far from the Tree of Life. Wanting to be gods themselves, they forsook the life of intimacy with God that God had created them to share, and they ate of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Now filled with knowledge but separated from God, their lives became more of a wilderness than a garden.
Through the next sixty-five books of the Bible—which is to say through the next eons of human history – we hear little of the Tree of Life, until the Tree reappears high atop a lonely hill, called Golgotha, outside of Jerusalem. At first glance, that tree hardly seems a fitting symbol for abundant or eternal life. Just a narrow trunk and two outstretched branches; but in the cross of Christ – just as in the tree at the center of Eden – there was the power of eternal life and the hope of the world. That tree was God’s sign to humanity that there is no wilderness so barren, no ground so hardened that God can not raise up new life from it.
Prior to going to the cross, Jesus promised his disciples, "When I am raised up, I will draw all people to me." It must have seemed an outrageous claim . . . but neither his friends nor his enemies fully understood how forceful and fertile the Tree of Life is, when He sends out His roots.
I’m not merely making a romantic statement of faith – I’m making a faithful statement of historical fact, drawn upon the findings of Dr. Rodney Stark, a scholar who has been called "the most significant figure in the sociology of religion in the second half of the 20th century." In his book, The Rise of Christianity, Stark tells us that at the time of Christ’s death, there were only a handful of believers, hardly enough to constitute even one single church. Thirty years later – there were still only about 3,000 converts.
Those who study the sociology of religion tell us that typically, at this juncture, a new spiritual movement must face the fact that the forces against them are too great and they surrender their efforts to expand. Instead of struggling to live and grow, they turn inward and begin to die. The same could have been true for the Christian movement – faced with mounting hostility and outright violence from the surrounding culture; they might have given up and become a faint memory in the history of world religions.
But that’s not what happened, is it!? According to Dr. Stark, from about 3,000 followers in 60 AD, the number of Christians more than doubled by 100 AD and exploded to more than 40,000 people by the year 150. By the year 200, the total exceeded 200,000. In the next 50 years it quintupled to 1 million and then rocketed to a staggering 6 million by the year 300. Then it quintupled again over the next 50 years, producing some 33 million confessing Christians by 350 A.D. That was about half the citizenry of the entire Roman Empire.
Now, the phenomenal growth of Christianity’s tree prompts an honest agnostic like Dr. Stark to ask this question: "Why? How did a tiny and obscure messianic movement from the edge of the Roman Empire dislodge classical paganism and become the dominant faith of Western Civilization?"
In the course of his research, Stark discovered a variety of potential reasons. The churches taught an ethic of all-embracing love that touched the deepest longings of individuals living in a world of racial, ethnic, economic, and gender divides. Christians lifted up women and other marginalized people and gave them value and a role equal to every other believer in the sight of God. Beyond that, the upshoots from the Tree of Life offered hope to those who thirsted for forgiveness; who longed for a new beginning to push up through the cracked soil of their past. The church provided a place of rest and shelter in the face of the storms and hot days of life. They fed folks who understood that it’s not enough to have only the earthly necessities to live on – people also need something eternal to live for.
Everywhere the church shot up, its fruit nourished people’s lives. In fact, according to Stark, the church in Rome alone cared for 1,500 widows and orphans. And as the branches of God’s tree spread up and out, hospitals, schools and orphanages were started; divorce and poverty and crime rate went down; civic voluntarism went up.
We, who live in a world where social services and charitable institutions are the norm, might assume they just “happened” due to social evolution or benevolent business or good government. Not so! According to Stark, these good things began with the church. They are the fruit of the Tree of Life.
My friends, our world desperately needs what only the Tree of Life can provide! Never in history has the flow of human resources been so great. Yet rarely has the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control been in such short supply.
It would be easy to look around us and think – as some believers back in the first century must have – that the ground of the human heart is just too hard, the heat of secularism just too blazing for the world to change dramatically. We might be tempted to withdraw into ourselves, turn this church into a museum – which would quickly become a mausoleum – for without ministry and mission to the world, the church will surely die! We’ve seen it happen all over the city of Detroit.
But this morning, I want remind you that God has not given up! In fact, the Tree of Life is growing in Pando proportions all over the world! Do you know what God is doing in Africa? While bloodshed and famine get all the news, the Tree of Life is sending up shoots on that continent! In 1900, the southern portion of the African continent was only 3% Christian. By the year 2000, 60% per cent of the population was Christian – and membership in African churches is increasing by an average of 20,000 new members each day.
In India, 25 million of the 140 million members of the untouchable caste have become Christians. That’s more than all of the active members of every mainline Protestant denomination in this country put together. Since 1980, more Muslims in Iran have come to faith in Jesus Christ than in the previous 1,000 years combined. In Islamic Indonesia, the percentage of Christians has gotten so high that their Muslim government will no longer print the statistics. And Korea, which in the year 1900, was considered by the Western Church to be "impossible to penetrate" – Korea is now 35% Christian. There are 7,000 churches in the city of Seoul alone, with one of them numbering 750,000 members.
And what about the former Soviet Union? After 70 years of communist oppression in Russia, 56 per cent of the population now names itself Christian. Their seminaries can’t turn out pastors fast enough to keep up with the hundreds of new churches springing up every week in this region.
When I was in Havana Cuba last January, I witnessed first-hand, the growth of the church in “Pando” proportions. Every time people gathered to worship and hear God’s word, the place was packed! Not only did they fill the seats and the aisles, people spilled out of open windows and doors – thirsty to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and hungry to be fed by the Tree of Life.
In contrast, we live in a country where church attendance is sagging under the weight of anesthetizing apathy and affluence. The United Methodist Church in North America has not posted an overall growth in membership for more than 40 years. As congregations struggle with rising costs and diminishing resources, it would be easy to imagine that the Tree of Life has long since rotted and withered. But nothing could be further from the truth! This church – in fact, every church is connected to the one Tree of Life – and on a worldwide scale, followers of Jesus Christ are increasing by more than 90,000 disciples a day. 3,000 new churches are opening every week. (I am indebted to Rev. Daniel Meyer for his church growth research).
These are not just numbers. These are human lives now finding an answer to their longing for belonging, their leaning towards meaning, their partiality for immortality. Every time a shoot of the Tree of Life goes up and forms a new church, this world gains another place of shelter and sustenance, of service and salvation. If you’ve ever wondered "What in the world is God doing?" to address human needs, to counter the death and decay that fills our television screens, know this: God is growing his life all over our planet.
Therefore, the most important question we should be asking is, "What are we doing to participate in and support the growth of the Tree of life? What is Metropolitan United Methodist Church doing to graft ourselves into the greatest outgrowth of the Tree of Life since the earliest years of the Christian Church? Let me briefly share four specific things you and I can do: think "G" for "grafting into growth."
FIRST we’ve got to get on your knees. The Apostle Paul encourages us, "Brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you." Friends, a growing church is a praying church – so we’ve got to get on our knees daily and pray for the life of the Tree – pray for the health and fruitfulness of this particular branch of the Tree of Life, because prayer unleashes the power of God.
SECOND, give what you can. Stretch yourself beyond what you’re already giving, to generously support the mission and ministry of Metropolitan Church – here in Detroit and around the world. No other investment you make with your hard-earned resources will do more to affect the course of life on this planet than an investment in the health and vitality of the Tree of Life.
THIRD, go where you’re able. Consider the wild possibility that God might be calling you to a new kind of ministry – maybe that means teaching Sunday School or mentoring a young person; maybe that means volunteering with Good Sam or Habitat for Humanity – perhaps leading a mission trip. Maybe God is calling you to help care for our shut-in or homebound members. You may be called to share your faith and invite others to become part of this branch of the Tree of Life. Or perhaps God has laid something on your heart – some unmet need – and God may be prompting you to start some new ministry. It could change someone’s life – maybe even yours.
FINALLY, be glad in the promise God has made to us. Too many Christians spend their time groaning instead of grinning. We groan at the way the world seems to be going. We groan at the cursed darkness that seems to triumph in so many places. Yet God has given us reason to grin with hope!
In his Revelation, God showed his servant, John, this hopeful vision of the end of human history: everywhere he looked, there was the Tree of Life growing – in Pando proportions! God’s life was yielding bountiful fruit, with leaves that could heal the wounds of the world. And beneath that golden canopy, God promised, "Nothing accursed will be found there any more. And the servants of God and of Christ the Lamb will worship him and they will see his face. There will be no more night, for the Lord God will be their light.”
That’s where history is going, dear friends. One day it will all be Pando. In the meantime, let us get on our knees, give what we can, go where we’re able and be glad as we claim God’s vision for our future!
Let us pray: Dear God, we thank you… Thank you for the chance you’ve given us to be part of what you are doing to bring restoration and wholeness to all of creation.
Rev. Tonya M. Arnesen
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