Like a tree Planted by the Water

Sermon given on 10/22/2023 at First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury (Cranbury, NJ)

Text: Jeremiah 17: 5-8

In today’s reading we find ourselves in the book of Jeremiah—in the chaotic and confusing writings of the weeping prophet. Like many of the other prophets, Jeremiah is concerned with Israel’s behavior and with what might happen to them if they do not follow the ways of the covenant. Jeremiah makes his concern clear over and over again throughout his writings. And this passage is no exception. But Wanting to add a little panache—a little creative flair—to his message, Jeremiah turns his message here into poetry. (Because nothing tells a recalcitrant people to “shape up” like some beautiful rhyme scheme and meter.) Through his poem, jeremiah encourages his fellow Israelites to trust in God and not on the ways of the world.  Jeremiah tells them:

Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals

and make mere flesh their strength,

whose hearts turn away from the Lord.

They shall be like a shrub in the desert

and shall not see when relief comes.

They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited salt land.

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,

whose trust is the Lord.

They shall be like a tree planted by water,

sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes,

and its leaves shall stay green;

in the year of drought it is not anxious,

and it does not cease to bear fruit.

Now One way to understand this poem is that Jeremiah is saying that like a shrub in the desert, the Israelites will not survive without the proper resources. Without a source of water, the shrub will not live. And similarly, without God, the Israelites will not survive, much less thrive. And so, Jeremiah encourages them to be like a tree—a tree that is planted on the banks of a flowing river. A tree that is supported and sustained by its waters. Jeremiah prays that they will be a people supported and sustained by God.

This understanding of the text is a fairly traditional one. humans are the plant and God is the water. The message is that we ought to be more like the healthy green tree and less like the withering shrub. And if we just trust God enough, then we can withstand any kind of meteorological phenomenon. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this understanding of the passage. Leaning on the wisdom of God instead of embracing the logic of the stock market or following the latest material trends is good and sacred advice.

But there are other ways to read this text. There are ways to understand Jeremiah and his message that reflect the depths of the reality of life. That reflect the realities not only of the lives of the ancient Israelites but also of our lives today.

One way to read Jeremiah’s poem is by paying attention to the world of the writing—to the way that Jeremiah notices his environment. Because his writings are filled with details of the land and the landscape—of the relationship between the people, creation, and God. He sees the earth not just as some dirt and some water that just happen to be around him. Instead, Jeremiah sees and understands the Earth as a character in its own right.

And so When we understand how Jeremiah sees creation, we can read his writings with that same kind of sensitivity. in a way that also takes creation seriously.  We can read it in a way that acknowledges that creation can teach us something. That God has woven wisdom in the very world around us, and all we have to do is take the time to notice and to listen.

So let us join Jeremiah in noticing and learning from the Earth. Let us read his poem through a lens that is sensitive to the world around us. Let us use Jeremiah’s poem to see what God’s good creation has to teach us.

Specifically in this passage, I invite us to pay attention to this tree. This tree that’s planted by the water.

Now it might seem that the tree is pulling itself up by its tree bootstraps only using the resources of the water and absolutely nothing else. But there’s actually so much more going on even tho it might not be obvious.  

Even this tree that’s planted right by the water needs more than just the water. It needs the sunshine to help it photosynthesize and the soil around it to physically support it—to hold it up. It also needs what’s in the soil--the fungi and other microbes that live in there. Because All plants depend on these tiny creatures to provide it with lifegiving mineral nutrients that it cant get on its own.

While Jeremiah’s tree and all other plants depend on microbes for their own benefit, they also work with the microbes for the benefit of the other plants around them. Even if a tree seems isolated and solitary, it can actually be connected to other trees across vast distances through a fungal network. This sprawling web of fungi is essentially the Earth’s internet system. And through it plants can swap and trade nutrients between each other and even gift resources to other plants that need it the most. Plants can also send warning messages along these same routes to tell others that something bad is coming their way and that they need to prepare. Because this network helps plants to share resources and to warn others of incoming danger, the plants that are connected to this network live longer and healthier lives.

In addition to using this worldwide fungal network, trees also use their roots to connect, communicate, and support one another. Oak trees are a great example of this. While their roots might not dive deep into the soil, they do spread wide. In fact, the roots of oak trees can spread up 7 times the diameter of the trees canopy. As they spread their roots wide, they can connect to the roots of other trees and weave their roots together. And by intertwining their roots, they can stabilize and protect each other.

Going back to our scripture today, we can follow the lead of Jeremiah and ask what we can learn from what’s around us. What can we learn from these tiny microbes speeding along the superhighway of the fungi network? What can we learn from oak trees and their expansive and interwoven root systems?

I think If we, like Jeremiah, take note from creation, we can understand that we are connected to each other. We can begin to see that communal support is part of God’s good plan. That beloved community is the blueprint of the kingdom of God. And because of this, we are called to live into that reality. We are called to support each other and to hold each other close.    

Farmer and artist Naima Penniman shares this same idea using an example from our own recent history. She says: When hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast, almost everything lost its footing. Houses were detached from their foundations, trees and shrubbery were uprooted, signposts and vehicles floated down the rivers that became of the streets. But amidst the whipping winds and surging water, the oak tree held its ground. How? Instead of digging its roots deep and solitary into the earth, the oak tree grows its roots wide and interlocks with other oak trees in the surrounding area. And you cant’ bring down a hundred oak trees bound beneath the soil! How do we survive [our personal tragedies as well as our mass traumas? How do we survive our cancer diagnoses and ruptured relationships? How do we survive] unnatural disasters of climate change, environmental injustice, […] economic inequality, […] and displacement? We must connect in the underground, my people! In this way, we shall survive!”        

This idea that community is part of God’s desire for us and for all of creation is woven even into our sacraments—into the very theology that ungirds our tradition. Today, we witnessed the baptism of Eloise, and as we did, we made a promise. We promised to guide and nurture Eloise by word and deed, with love and prayer, encouraging her to know and follow Christ and to be a faithful member of the church. We made this promise not because it’s just a nice sentiment but because it’s part of God’s plan for Eloise, for us, and for all of creation. We made these promises because we are called to be in beloved community with one another. We are called to support each other and to intertwine our lives together.

Through these baptismal promises, we commit to be much like the oak trees—to be her root system. To be the soil that surrounds her and holds her up as her roots grow and spread out—and maybe even connect to our own roots. We promise to no just guide Eloise to the riverside but to continue to be there with her as she drinks deeply from God’s living waters.

Using the words of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, we make these promises because we are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.

From fungus mycelia and tiny microbe to our reformed theology and baptismal promises, community is at the center of it all because God has created us to be together. And Because God created us to be knit together we then called to support one another. To bear one another’s burdens. And to show up for one another—especially when our neighbors need it the most.

So friends I pray that we can carry this truth within us. Like a tree planted by the waters edge we are connected to God, to our neighbors, and to all of the earth. I pray that we know that God has bound our very beings in love to one another.  That we are as connected to one another as the roots of oak trees are intertwined. And that it is because of these bonds, that we are called to be neighbor to one another.  Amen