Rev. Cari Pattison

Woodstock Reformed Church

Sunday, January 12, 2025

“Spurring One Another on in Love”

Hebrews 10:19-25

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

***

Sermonette-

A smaller-sized version of the regular thing

Luncheonette, kitchenette, launderette-

Although this kind of breaks down when you think of “bachelorette” or “Smurfette” – it can refer to the feminine version of something

So let’s just say this is a shorter version of a regularly sermon, that happens to be delivered by a short female.

Prayer

***

Peter Wohlleben- The Hidden Life of Trees, shares some remarkable new research about forests.

“The most astonishing thing about trees is how social they are. The trees in a forest care for each other, sometimes even going so far as to nourish the stump of a felled tree for centuries after it was cut down by feeding it sugars and other nutrients, and so keeping it alive. Only some stumps are thus nourished. Perhaps they are the parents of the trees that make up the forest of today.

A tree’s most important means of staying connected to other trees is a ‘wood wide web’ of soil fungi that connects vegetation in an intimate network that allows the sharing of an enormous amount of information and goods.”

As I learn these things about trees, I can’t help but think about the church.

The ways you care for each other, cooking up lunch yesterday after Susan Godfrey’s funeral, and preparing cake this afternoon to celebrate our new deacons and baptisms.

Wohlleben continues:

“The reason trees share food and communicate is that they need each other. It takes a forest to create a microclimate suitable for tree growth and sustenance. So it’s not surprising that isolated trees have far shorter lives than those living connected together in forests.”

Did you know that research bears this out with the church too?

A notable study published in the journal "Social Psychological and Personality Science" by researchers at Ohio State University, found that people who regularly participated in a faith community- a church, synagogue, or other spiritual center- lived significantly longer than those without. Not just longer, but with significantly better quality of life.

Even after accounting for factors like gender and marital status, it was specifically regular connection to a place of religious worship, was a key determining factor in longevity and thriving into older age.

The unnamed author of Hebrews- whom some scholars speculate was a woman, urges us to not give up seeking spiritual nourishment- the soil and sunlight and water of spending time in God’s word, and joining with others in worship:

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart,” the letter reads.

***

Now back to the trees:

Wohhleben notes, “Every tree, therefore, is valuable to the community and worth keeping around for as long as possible. And that is why even sick individual trees are supported and nourished until they recover. Next time, perhaps it will be the other way round, and the supporting tree might be the one in need of assistance. They look after their own, and they help their sick and weak back up onto their feet. They are even reluctant to abandon their dead.”

“In the case of trees, being old doesn't mean being weak, bowed, and fragile. Quite the opposite, it means being full of energy and highly productive. This means elders are markedly more productive than young whippersnappers, and when it comes to climate change, they are important allies for human beings.”

One thing I love so much about being part of this church, is that all ages of people come together- even in our baptisms alone today, we have people ranging from their 20’s to their 60’s! And as we ordain new deacons this morning, I’m reminded of the ways we step up to serve and care for one another in practical ways, in our hour of need.

We may come from different backgrounds, educations, politics, and theological beliefs, but we hold space together in this forest of faith:

Wohhleben writes:

“Check this out for yourself simply by looking up into the forest canopy. The average tree grows its branches out until it encounters the branch tips of a neighboring tree of the same height. It doesn't grow any wider because the air and better light in this space are already taken. A pair of true tree-friends is careful right from the outset not to grow overly thick branches in each other's direction. The trees don't want to take anything away from each other, and so they develop sturdy branches only at the outer edges of their crowns. Such partners are often so tightly connected at the roots that sometimes they even die together.”

We grow our branches, as believers, but we make sure not to take away from others around us, developing in their own growth.

And ultimately, we support one another, even unto death.

***

I want to close with this illustration from the Biosphere 2. Anybody heard of it?

Biosphere 2 is owned by the University of Arizona. It’s basically a mini-Earth, and scientists use it for research of the living systems of our planet. It’s more than three acres of a giant terrarium and is the largest closed system ever created.

The Biosphere 2 project was created as a research tool for scientists to study Earth’s living systems, and it allowed scientists to play with farming and innovation in a way that didn’t harm the planet.

But one of the most profound discoveries made by the scientists had nothing to do with a cure for some new disease or a new way of farming land.

They began to notice something interesting: trees grew much faster in there than they did in the wild, but they would not fully mature. They would collapse on themselves before they could reach their full height.

It was confusing. They had light and soil and water and all the things you would think would make a tree feel really happy. It was supposed to be the ideal setting for growth! Perfect conditions, and no outside threats.

But eventually, someone finally figured out that there was one important thing that was missing from the tree’s environment. 

Wind.

The wind keeps trees constantly moving. And that turns out to be stressful for the tree, to be bent and pushed back and forth all the time. But it is stressed in a good way. Because the trees, in response, grow something that is called stress wood.

Stress wood has a different cellular structure than the rest of the wood in the tree, and because of that, it can shift the placement of the tree to access more light or other resources. Stress wood helps trees grow more solidly.

Without stress wood, a tree can grow quickly, but it cannot support itself fully. The stress is actually what causes the tree to seek out what it needs to survive and find a better position. That’s why we sometimes see trees in those awkward shapes, bent at usual angles or pushing up the concrete sidewalk. 

Within Biosphere 2, where there is no wind and no resistance, the trees don’t develop the ability to be resilient. They grow up weaker and without the ability to adapt.

They don’t know their own strength, nor do they know that they have the ability to grow around that obstacle. They don’t know that they are capable of adjusting themselves to get what they need. An easy life leads to weak, collapsing trees. 

I think you get the metaphor.

***

The letter to the Hebrews was likely written to Jewish Christians who were facing persecution for their faith in Jesus. New believers living in Rome during Emperor Nero in the time between the years 64-68 Common Era. Nero’s tyranny against Christians was notorious and severe- he sought to squelch their faith and shut down their gatherings.

And it’s in the midst of that wind, that violent and gale-force gust of opposition- that the author of Hebrews urges the early church to not give up:

She writes:

“ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day [of Christ’s return] approaching.”

Friends, in the family of faith- and the community of Woodstock Reformed Church- we have this beautiful, interconnected forest.

Every organism in this forest carries value to the whole, and we get to do this holy work together of nurturing each other’s spirits, praying and helping those in need, and not giving up reaching for the sun of God’s light and love.

And yes, we live in a rapidly shifting world. A world wherein fires burn down whole towns, new governments take power, loved ones are buried, and ministers leave.

But what if it’s only through those unwanted winds of stress that we discover more of what we’re meant to be? What if it’s only in times of frightening change, that we grow to our fullest potential?

Let us pray.

Most Loving God, we believe. Help our unbelief.