Like Trees Planted By Streams of Water

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Text: Psalm 1

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Imagine with me for a moment – an ancient group of priests. They are gathered in a room, surrounded by their sacred writings – in fact, their sacred writings are spread out, everywhere. Most of these writings are quite old, handed down from parents to children and teachers to students over the centuries. And in these writings are words about the Lord – not in English then, of course, but including these words that are so familiar to some:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me, 

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;

but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.

These ancient writings are the psalms, and this ancient group of priests is working on collecting them. Imagine the discussion of which psalm should go first. Perhaps they each have a favorite – like many of us do – and each of them wants their favorite to be the first psalm, the gateway into this collection of ancient poetry and song.

Finally, though, they decide on a psalm of Wisdom, a psalm that upholds Wisdom as one of God’s greatest gifts to us, a psalm that will show the purpose of all the other psalms that will follow it. They decide on a psalm that helps us to remember that we are to delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night.

Here in America, the idea of “law of the Lord” has become intertwined with our own twisted views of law and order. We argue over posting the Ten Commandments in court rooms and on public monuments. We use the law to legitimize our own prejudices and fears. We claim to be a “Judeo-Christian” nation. 

And yet in all of our blustering and shouting others down, we seem to forget that the law of the Lord was given out of the mind and heart of a loving God – a God who wants people to be well, a God who wants us to live with love and to help others in need. A God who wants people so full of the praise and knowledge and love of God that we are like trees planted by streams of water – always growing, always flourishing, always bearing fruit.

After all, a tree that bears fruit doesn’t do so for itself. Have you ever seen a tree hoard its own fruit? Have you ever seen a tree using its own branches to pick its own apples, collecting them for its own use later on? No – a tree that bears fruit does so for the good of others – so that others may come and pick the apples and find nourishment from the fruit. 

I’ll be honest – sometimes, reading this first psalm is difficult - or downright painful - to me. We live in an age when it can seem like the wicked ones are winning almost all the time. It seems like they are the ones who are firmly established – and perhaps they are, since they are rooted deeply in their own power and their own wealth and their own narcissism. Where is the love? many of us ask. Where is the hope?

And then I look, and I see that we still have plenty who are rooted in the truth of God’s love. The apostle Paul puts it this way in Colossians: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (2:6-7). 

We have received the very love of God as a gift – this is God’s grace for us – this is God’s mercy shown to us – and so we are rooted in Christ, like a tree, planted by streams of water. 

What is the fruit we are bearing? Is it fruit borne in fear or in faith? Is it fruit that is hoarded or freely given away? Is it fruit borne in bitterness or in love? What is the fruit we are bearing?

Since we have received Christ, if we are living our lives in him, if we are rooted and built up in him, if we are established in faith, if we are abounding in thanksgiving – then where is there room for faithlessness and fear and hatred? Where is there room for these, not only in our faith lives, but in our common life together – in our families, with our friends and co-workers, as residents of this nation, as people who live in this world? 

We who have freely received the love of God, may we allow that same love to compel us in every way – may that be what urges us on. May we bear fruit of love and joy and peace and hope – fruit that will last. 

Amen. 

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