An Allegory of Cedar Trees

Driving along Bluegrass Parkway I noticed a large cedar tree in an open area that had obviously toppled in the strong winds and storms that swept through Kentucky earlier in the year. I imagined how this beautiful old tree must have looked before the storm… how it had grown from a small seed and endured all kinds of weather throughout its many years, occupying that space with such beauty and inspiration to passersby. A few yards past this once grand, and now uprooted tree, I saw a cluster of cedars of various sizes, standing tall with no evidence that any one of them was harmed whatsoever by the violent, stormy weather. Oh, I am sure a few had lost some limbs, and assuredly had bent significantly because of the 70+ mph winds. But at the end of the day, they were still standing tall… and together. Their proximity to each other and the intermingling of their root systems had protected these trees from the fate of that single, lone cedar with its previous history of strength and endurance.

The thought came to me that these cedars illustrate the importance of connection for individuals and for churches. We may appear to be strong, self-reliant, and independently secure, capable of standing on our own and withstanding the storms of life. Like the grand, old cedar, that may have proven to be true for many years. Inevitably, insurmountable gale-force troubles come only to find ourselves alone and overwhelmed. We were not as self-sufficient as we thought. We realize that what we have needed all along is community with the proximity and intermingling of our life together enabling us to endure trials and bear one another’s burdens. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Christian community is not an ideal which we must work to realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate (Life Together).

The most radical paradigm shift in the Global Methodist Church is that the local church, not the annual conference, is the strategic center of mission and ministry. In our structure, local churches have more authority, more responsibility, more money, and more opportunity to do the work of the Kingdom of God across their streets and around the world. Yet in Christ, we are not independent contractors and instead a covenant fellowship that is bound together by the Spirit as the Body of Christ. That is not an ideal, but a reality (I Corinthians 12:21).

I see people participating in this reality across the MidSouth Annual Conference every day. I praise God as I pause to reflect on what we are becoming as faithful and fruitful witnesses for Christ. And I continue to pray that our life together will be deeply rooted and intermingled in the love of Jesus for the sake of our families and friends and neighbors and strangers and children yet to be born. To God be the glory! The best is yet to come.