Four Lessons from the Trees - Season of Creation Week #1 (Forests)
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
September 06, 2026
Friends, today we once again begin our
observation of the Season of Creation. We’ve
only been doing this for a few years, so it’s worth taking a moment to explain
it. First, the Season of Creation is a
rare example of different denominations overcoming their disagreements and
coming together in common cause to support this endeavor. Thirteen Christian world communions and
ecumenical bodies have to some degree embraced this practice, including the
Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches. In these polarized and divided times of ours,
that sort of ecumenical cooperation is noteworthy and deserving of celebration.
The second thing I want to lift here at the
outset is that the Season of Creation in this five-week format may be new to
most of us, but it is a practice deeply embedded in Christian tradition. For example, for centuries and centuries,
Eastern Orthodox Christians have begun their church calendar not with Advent or
January 1 but on September 1, to coincide with harvest season. The Season of Creation intentionally begins
on the first Sunday in September in order to both honor and draw closer to this
ancient way of marking God’s time in synchronicity with the agricultural
year. But did you know that this is also
an old and treasured tradition for Lutherans? Perhaps some of you have been around long enough to remember when we had
Rogation Sunday, near the end of Easter, and when the three days before
Ascension Day were called Rogation Days. They were days set near the beginning of Spring planting and set
aside for us to ask God’s blessings upon the fields and future harvests.
It’s good that we’re recapturing a bit of this
tradition. Indeed, worship should help connect us to the sacredness of forests, fields, streams, seas, and
prairies. Worship should instill
in us a reverence and respect for all of God’s creation and stir us to renewed
commitment to care for that creation with humility and love. But we need to make an important distinction
here. The Season of Creation calls us to
honor and give thanks for creation as means of honoring, thanking, and
worshipping God. We need to be
careful that we never mistake creation for the Creator.
And so to that end, the goal here is not to
turn you into some sort of pagan tree worshipper. Make no mistake: we are Lutheran Christians
who worship one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No compromise or exceptions on that
point. But creation powerfully reveals
God and God’s love to us in ways that transcend anything we might experience
here in worship. I’ve had powerful
experiences of God’s love and presence in nature. But don’t just take my word for it. Hear the words of one of Christianity’s greatest
theologians, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who died in 1153. He said, “More things are learnt in the woods
than from books; trees and rocks will teach you things not to be heard
elsewhere.”
And so with all of that in mind, in Week 1 of
the Season of Creation, the week focused on forests and trees, I want to offer
you a few faith lessons that the trees teach us. After all, we don’t encounter forests and
trees in our faith lives solely by walking in the woods. They surround us even here in our
sanctuary. Trees provided the wood of
the pews on which we sit, and the pulp that was made into our hymnals and
bulletins. Wooden beams help support our
structure, and the wood of this pulpit holds God’s Word so it can be proclaimed
and preached.
Trees make several appearances in our lessons
today too. In Genesis we read that
“every tree is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” God even uses a tree, the Tree of Life, to
symbolize divine power and authority. In
our readings from Acts and the Gospel, we are reminded of another tree
which, nearly 2,000 years ago, was formed into a cross that became the holiest
throne in all of creation as it bore our Savior Jesus’s body in the ultimate
act of love, mercy, and grace.
But I want to most focus your attention on a
line in today’s Psalm: “all the trees of the wood shout for joy at your coming,
O Lord.” Nature in general and trees in
particular can be a sort of vibrantly green, living Bible for us that proclaims
God’s glory and draws us into God’s presence. And so in the coming days and weeks, as you spend time in your yard,
visit the Penn State Arboretum, hike a forest trail, or just take a walk on one
of our many tree-lined streets here in State College, I want to equip you with four
little lessons the trees teach us about our faith lives. My hope is that each time you see a tree, one
or more of these lessons will resonate in your heart as a source of
contemplation and spiritual growth.
Lesson 1: Be Rooted like the Trees. For a tree, roots are the ultimate source of
life. Roots anchor the tree in place and
draw nutrition from the soil. Uproot a
tree and it dies. The same is true for
us. God created us to be rooted and
nourished in scripture, the sacraments of baptism and communion, and in
spiritual practices like worship, prayer, and service. If we are not rooted in those life-giving
gifts, we suffer spiritual starvation. Let the trees remind us: we must be rooted.
Lesson 2: Sway like the Trees. Storms are inevitable for trees, and the ones
that survive are the ones that, while remaining firmly rooted, manage to sway
with the winds. A rigid, unbending tree
will splinter and shatter. Storms are
inevitable for us too. How is God
calling you to deeper trust, and to sway
amidst the winds of adversity, rather than merely adopt unyielding
rigidity? Let the trees remind us:
sometimes we must sway.
Lesson 3: Stretch High like the Trees. Trees are fed not only by their roots but
through photosynthesis and the sun. Trees naturally know that their wellbeing depends on being as close to
the sun as possible, and so they stretch upward, fighting through the forest
canopy of clutter, to be in direct contact with that sun. Isn’t that an obvious lesson for us? We too need the SON. And as we all know, there’s a seemingly
endless amount of clutter in this world designed to obscure that Son from our
view. So it’s vital that we acknowledge
our need for Jesus and stretch toward him in daily prayer and scripture study,
and regular worship. Let the trees
remind us: to thrive, we must stretch high toward the Son.
Lesson 4: Reach out like the Trees. Trees don’t just extend high into the sky and
down into the ground. Through their
limbs and branches they stretch outward in every direction. As they do so, they offer many gifts. For example, they shelter a vast array of
creatures, even we humans when we get caught in the rain! And in the summer heat, resting under the
shady branches of a big tree brings refreshment. Those limbs and branches bear fruit too:
apples, pears, peaches and more. How is
God calling you to reach out horizontally, to provide shelter, refreshment,
nourishment, and a safe haven for your neighbors? God calls us to love our neighbors. Let the trees remind us how to do that. We must reach outward.
There is of course much more we can learn from
the trees, but four little lessons are enough for today. Be rooted like the trees. Sway like the trees. Stretch high like the trees. And reach out like the trees. I encourage you to ponder those lessons
whenever you see trees, not because I want to turn you all into arborists or
foresters, but because trees have a unique gift of pointing us to our Savior
Jesus Christ, who by his death on a tree and his glorious resurrection, offers
us the mercy of forgiveness and the grace of salvation. He speaks to us through Word and
Sacrament. And today we’re reminded that
he speaks to us through trees and forests. Thanks be to God! Amen.
© 2026 Rev. Scott E. Schul, all rights reserved
Lectionary
Texts: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17; Psalm 96:9, 11-13; Acts 10:34-42; and
Gospel: John 3:13-15
[Jesus said to Nicodemus, 13 “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended
from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
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