Dear Rose Park,
As some of you know, next week I’ll gather for my last doctorate intensive at Western Theological Seminary before graduation in May. These past three years have flown by in some sense and dragged in another sense. Yet, it has been a fruitful experiencing diving into the writings of Eugene Peterson. Throughout these three years, I have been so encouraged to get text messages, emails, and voicemails from you all wishing me luck and letting me know I was in your prayers. As I have gratefully received your well-wishes, I am reminded of a picture frame that sits on my desk.
This picture frame doesn’t hold a portrait of a loved one or even a beautiful scene in nature, rather this picture frame holds a quote. The quote isn’t from a movie or a popular song, but rather it is an ancient Greek proverb. It reads: A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
In other words, a society grows great when women, men and children lay down their own interests and invest in the lives of others. We see this when a church generously and graciously supports their pastor to continue his education. We see this when we think of others before ourselves. We see this when we buy the coat, hat, and mittens for the person who’s cold. We see this when we bring the hot meal to the person who’s hungry. We see this when we send the card of encouragement to the downtrodden. We see this when we visit the poor, the sick, the widow, and the prisoner.
And perhaps in the greatest sense, we see this when God took on flesh through the birth of Jesus. In the most selfless act, and in thinking of us, God sends His one and only Son to live, minister, teach, serve, sacrifice, die, and then resurrect on earth. By sending Christ into the world, God planted the tree in whose shade we would sit.
As we transition into a New Year, I would encourage you to plant a tree in someone else’s life. Perhaps you will never reap the benefit of shade or fruit from that tree but someone else will. If this comes to life through prayer, then pray diligently and daily. If this comes to life through hospitality, then send the invitation or make the phone call. If this comes to life through friendship, then answer the phone or knock on the door. However this comes to life for you, it is my hope and prayer that as we live into the calling of being God’s family here at Rose Park, we might be willing to plant a tree whose shade we know we shall never sit in.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
Photo by Luke Richardson on Unsplash