‘Will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect the beauty and integrity of all creation?’

This was the text of a resolution passed by the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut on Saturday as a proposed sixth baptismal question (it now has to be run through the General Convention twice before being officially adopted, so 2018 at the earliest). As a lay delegate to the convention, this resolution was one of several that I had a particular interest in.

Those of you who know me, know that I have very little patience with the ‘green’ movement. And when this question was posed last year, it had serious problems with obvious political overtones: ‘trigger words’ and very little Scriptural grounding. A year later, and the kinks were worked out. It now reflects the fundamental truth which has been so often warped: the universe is wondrous and we are part of it.

So what does this have to do with this blog? Well today, I spent time working on the annual cutting of unwanted brush up on the house lot, Holly spent time working in the garden, and Jamie spent time cutting the trees in the Spring Lot that I had marked for removal.

The thing is, the ongoing thinning of the Spring Lot, which will eventually result in a towering* grove of Maple, Oak, Beech, Black Birch, and Ash is a long running project. Its final glory won’t be evident for about a century or so. But in a century or so, God willing, someone will have a stand of forest giants. As I have enjoyed the trees that are giants now, so will they. A cathedral of trees and a pond caught at the break of the hill, where the sunset falls. I won’t see them, and the land almost certainly won’t still be in the family. But that does not matter. It will be there in glory.

 

*when the little guys, that don’t even hit the lower branches of the canopy are 50 feet in height…..