Forest Flow (Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-22)

Last week: talked about God as breath.  This week, I’m talking about trees and forests.  Did you know trees breathe?  They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.  Just the opposite of humans and other mammals, who breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.

So the oxygen and carbon dioxide cycle back and forth.  We are dependent on trees, and trees are dependent on us. 

Scientists call this mutualism: a symbiotic relationship in which each of the organisms benefits.  More specifically, it’s obligate mutualism, which means the interacting species are interdependent and cannot survive without each other.

We cannot survive without the oxygen trees and other plants provide; trees cannot survive without the carbon dioxide we breathe out.

I love trees.  During the warm days of August I got into the habit of going home in the afternoons, sitting in my backyard and doing some sermon writing there.  I find it helpful to spend a little time away from my office and desk working on sermons. I’m not sure why, but part of the reason may be that I can see a dozen or so trees from where I sit in my backyard.  Gazing at the leaves and branches, following the contours with my eyes… my eyes can follow the twists and turns of the tree’s branches while my mind relaxes and enters a prayerful state of

meditation…

I remember other trees that I’ve seen, in particular locations.  Some trees are just fascinating to look at.  They provide shade; they provide food and shelter for animals; they control erosion and provide clean, lasting water. 

A couple of years ago I read a book by Wangari Maathai, a single mother in Kenya, who remembered a particular fig tree near her childhood home, and the stream that flowed near it with water so clean you could drink straight from the stream.  Her mother had told her to never bother the tree, not even if she was desperate for some firewood.  Wangari later learned that the roots of the tree are what helped keep that water so clean, bringing it up from the underground aquifer, cleaning it along the way.  Wangari also noticed that when there were no trees, when loggers and farmers cut them down, the water stopped flowing. She eventually started a greenbelt movement, which ended up planting 30 million trees across Kenya, and she ended up receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trees are good for the soul.  Following the twists and turns of a tree’s branches with my eyes is like walking a labyrinth.  It’s very peaceful and calming.  Studies have shown that children with ADHD show fewer symptoms in the presence of trees.  And I know that even the smallest, most subtle bend in a branch can capture and hold my attention for quite some time.

And yet, unlike a labyrinth, a tree is alive.  It’s growing.  Sap, water, and nutrients are flowing through its veins.  A month, a year from now, it might look different.  On some trees, the leaves may change color, or fall off completely.  The tree will grow, and add another ring to its trunk. 

And trees can talk.

Several decades ago, the first scientific papers describing how trees communicate with each other were published.  They were quickly shot down and described as “flawed.”  But more studies were done, and it turns out that trees really do talk to each other. 

Studies have shown that if a tree is infected by bugs or other pests, neighboring trees that are unaffected will begin producing higher amounts of bug-resistant chemicals, strengthening their defenses, in response.  Somehow the infected tree communicated to the nearby unaffected trees that pests were present.

Perhaps trees have a message to communicate to us.  Or, perhaps we are, without knowing it, communicating a message to trees.  What message, do you think, the trees are receiving from us?

Trees feature prominently in scripture.  After Abraham travelled that great migration, he settled by some oak trees at a place called Mamre.  The oak trees are mentioned several times.  It was by these oak trees that the Lord appeared to Abraham.  In a land where there was much open space, a hot sun and a desert landscape, I imagine that these oaks were truly a beautiful sight.

In the shade of these oak trees, Abraham met the Lord.  Abraham didn’t know about obligate mutualism, and the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.  And yet he appreciated the oak trees for what they did offer:  shade.  Peace.  Perhaps water and food.  And a place to pray, meditate, and encounter God.

In one of the creation stories from the book of Genesis, it says that the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, where grew the trees of the earth.  And these trees were good for several things. 

They were pleasant to the sight. 

And they were good for food.  They gave life.

Here’s something cool:  Did you know that there is a forest – it’s only about ten miles away from where we are now gathered – where the plants grow one to two feet a day?  That’s some ten feet of growth in a week. 

The forest I’m talking about is the giant kelp forest off the coast of California.  Marine plants of all types provide 90% of the earth’s oxygen.  Of course I’ve also heard that the rain forests produce 40% of the earth’s oxygen, so obviously somebody’s numbers are off, but that doesn’t diminish the significance of either the kelp forests or the rain forests.

For many years, the kelp forests were in decline.  The reason is that sea urchins eat kelp, and there were too many sea urchins.  There were too many sea urchins because normally otters eat the sea urchins, but there weren’t any otters.  The otters were almost extinct. 

Today, the otters are protected, their population has grown, and they are able to keep the sea urchin population under control, which has allowed the kelp to make a comeback.

It’s amazing how everything inter-relates, isn’t it?  More symbiotic relationships…

And of course, we depend on the kelp and other plants and trees for oxygen.  We also use ingredients in kelp to make ice cream and toothpaste and a bunch of other products. 

Kelp grows in cold water where it attaches to underwater rocks.  Technically, kelp is an algae, and if the water gets too warm, it doesn’t do as well.  Some kelp forests die off a little each summer, and return each winter as the water gets colder. 

Of course, with climate change, and rising sea temperatures, who knows what will happen to the kelp.  Or the sea urchins.  Or the otters.  Or us.

One way to offset the effects of climate change is to plant more trees, since they help cool down the earth and bring CO2 levels down to where they should be…

Genesis 1 – the other creation story in the Bible – says that human were given dominion over the plants and the animals.  In other words, we humans were put in charge.  God has put us in charge of caring for the earth.

In a healthy environment, there is a flow.  Oxygen flows from plants to animals, and carbon dioxide flows back from animals to plants.  There is an interdependency between the kelp, the sea urchins, the otters, and us.

As the ones “in charge,” it’s up to us to make sure that this flow continues.

At the oaks of Mamre, there was a flow.  When God appeared in the form of three wanderers, blessings flowed from Abraham to those travelers as Abraham offered them shelter and hospitality.  It wasn’t long before the blessings flowed back to Abraham as he received the promise from God of countless descendants – a whole nation, in fact.

We live in a community in which a number of people understand this flow of blessings.  Trees and forests provide so many blessings to us, and so there are people who work to plant and care for trees, blessing the trees in return.  One of the very first scout activities my family participated in after we moved to Long Beach was a project to plant trees at the corner of Carson and Atlantic.  We have since participated in other tree-planting projects with the scouts and with other community organizations, planting trees on Atlantic Avenue, Wardlow Street, Linden Avenue, and the dirt lot next to the Target parking lot.

By the way, that dirt lot at 33^rd and Atlantic, next the Target parking lot, is now scheduled to become a new Chick-fil-a restaurant.  A report by the city’s planning commission indicated that only a single palm tree was on the site, even though over 400 volunteer hours were spent planting trees and landscaping, and that many more hours have been spent caring for the trees and landscaping, which has enabled it to flourish.  However, Chick-fil-a says it wants to work with those who want to preserve as much of the landscaping as possible, so we’ll see what happens.

This flow of blessings is something the elders have been studying this year, through a book called Holy Currencies.  This circular flow of blessings, back and forth, is key to just about everything.  It’s certainly in our relationship with trees, but also in so much more.  The water cycle, for example; evaporation, precipitation, water cycling from the ocean to the clouds, falling back to earth as snow and rain, replenishing the groundwater as well as the rivers and streams which flow back to the ocean.  If all the water stayed in one spot, it would become stagnant and become brackish.  But the flow – the cycle – is replenishing as well as cleansing.

The flow of blessings that Abraham experienced at the oaks of Mamre is ours to experience as well.  Every Sunday, we gather here, beneath a beautiful wooden ceiling supported by wooden beams – gifts to us from the forests of the earth – and here we are reminded of the many blessings given to us by God. 

And here, we are reminded that we ourselves are called to be a blessing to others.  If we simply hold on to the blessings we have received, they will grow stagnant, and will cease to be life-giving.  A tree cannot hold on to its oxygen.  A lake cannot hold on to its water without releasing it to the stream that flows from it...  We cannot hold on to the blessings God has given us without releasing them.  Otherwise the blessings will lose their effectiveness.  In order for them to be truly blessings, they need to flow.

How are the blessings of God flowing through you?  The blessings of God can’t just flow to you; they need to flow through you.  Only then will those blessings accomplish their purpose.  Only then will you be truly blessed.