The Trees Are Blooming & We Are Not

June 2020

The Trees are Blooming & We Are Not  

 Or perhaps we are becoming “blooming idiots” as we bump up against the constrictions on our lives. As I write this, I am surprised by verdant leaves reflecting sunlight in ways not seen for months.  Our neighbours to the south are experiencing a particular type of rage in response to historic social injustices. We are having our own tensions, both private and public, as time passes under the imposed controls of the authorities.

We don’t like to be controlled and especially not when the outcomes are so uncertain and there are few clear and concise answers to questions about a host of things in our futures. Personal, family, community, economic, health, cultural, sports, travel….. the list of “when can we do what?” seems endless.

And yet our character is revealed under pressure. We become leaves reflecting whatever light source we draw on. We see it in the media but most especially in social media where it’s a wonder any fruit grows in the midst of the fiery exchanges. How we connect, contribute and respond reveals a lot about where our light source is – what sort of tree we are.

Jesus laid out a clear picture of this when challenging some self-assured religious types whose leaves he knew weren’t his sort of tree.  “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit…. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”  (Matt 12:33-35 ESV)

Back in the early 1990’s the polarization was similar, particularly in religious and political worlds. Moral majority was on the ascendant and lines were drawn, sides were set and heretics were declared. I’m adding an excerpt from a book written at the time calling for civility in our discourse. Richard Mouw was President of Fuller seminary at the time and decency and civility were in short supply. My being right and your being wrong were in abundance.

In our present environment we feel called to help, to serve, to provide and to respond to need and pain. But we can be restricted in what we can do and that only adds to the frustration. I have found Mouw’s little excerpt helpful, as have many of our Zoom groups, in finding the balance between strong convictions and civil engagement.

Our work continues in this sort of way. We continue to offer and encourage Spiritual friendship moving us to find grace in our friendship with Jesus and to offer that same grace we have received to those around us.

Friendship with civility grow among us,

Norm

Thoughts About Serving a Slow God

Uncommon Decency - Christian Civility in an Uncivil World

Richard J. Mouw - President of Fuller Seminary – 1993-2013

“Sharing in God’s patience means being modest in what we expect of other people. The need for modesty was once impressed upon me in a dramatic way by the sociologist Peter Berger. At a meeting we were both attending, I made a statement - this was in my younger days! - that every Christian is called to engage in radical obedience to God’s program of justice, righteousness and peace.

Berger observed that I was operating with a rather grandiose notion of “radical obedience.” Somewhere in a retirement home, he said, there is a Christian woman whose greatest fear in life is that she will be humiliated by being unable to control her bladder in the cafeteria line. For this woman, the greatest act of radical obedience to Jesus Christ is to place herself in the hands of a loving God every time she goes off for a meal.

Berger’s point was profound. God calls us to deal with the challenges before us, and often our most “radical” challenges are very “little” ones. Many times the call to radical obedience may mean patiently listening to someone who is boring or irritating, treating a fellow sinner with a charity that is not easy to muster or offering detailed advice on a matter that seems trivial to everyone but the person who requested the advice.

Encounters of this sort can be important occasions for reminding ourselves that we’re not asked to duplicate the epic work of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The world already has one very adequate Savior. We are called to find our modest places in his larger program and to celebrate the signs of his gracious work wherever we see them - even, and perhaps especially, when their appearance is the occasion for puzzlement and wonder.

This is what civility comes to, finally: an openness to God’s surprises. When that openness marks our lives, we have learned patience - along with the flexibility and tentativeness and humility and awe and modesty that will inevitably come to the patient heart. And since none of this is possible without a clear sense of who we are, and to whom we belong, the patient heart will also be a place where convictedness has found a home.”

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