Earlier in the year the famous sycamore tree beside Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland was deliberately and illegally felled. It was a sad act of vandalism but there is the chance that the stump may sprout again, and all may not be lost, even if it is completely different.
I first wrote one of these thoughts for 3rd December 2020 having been slower off the mark than others of the regular contributors. One hundred and sixty-three thoughts later, this is not the first time I have reflected on a tree, upright or prone, dead or alive.
There is a verse in Isaiah (11:1) which reads: ‘A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit, but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.’ The prophet foresaw Jesse’s descendent Jesus, a quite different character from his ancient ancestor. Jesus was himself cut down, in a failed attempt to silence and render him harmless. The attempt was futile, and his own stump shot in all directions and has grown into the intricate body on earth that we call His Church.
The hundreds of Thoughts so many have contributed to this series are uncoordinated save by the Holy Spirit. The variety of styles and approaches we all share and absorb have sprouted from the stump of temporarily quieted pulpits during COVID when new forms of sharing were being explored. I have no idea if in years to come the Northumberland landscape will be blessed by new growth in the Sycamore Gap; if so it will be different from the past, just as Jesus was; and just as every year we do things differently in new responses to the new challenges of faith in a vibrant but changing world.
God bless you on your Advent adventures this year.
A Prayer
Lord, we praise you that while the world turns your Word cannot be silenced and continually surprises us with new signs of life from old stumps. May we look for new expressions of faith and new modes of witness once again as we prepared for the arrival of the infant Christ among us. Fresh, new, and Divine, as every day has the capacity to be. Amen.