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Karen Hollis | Oct 13, 2024 Pentecost 21
Psalm 1 – Christine Robinson
Happy are they who know good and do good.
Their love for the good nourishes them continually.
They are like trees planted near the river,
whose roots go deep and wide.
They thrive, bear fruit in season, and
weather drought without wilting.
Those who are not so grounded
will blow around like dry leaves in the wind.
Root yourself in Good, and live.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
After learning about rivers and salmon from Ken, I invite us to hear the psalm once again. Notice any ways in which these words rest on you differently now.
Happy are they who know good and do good.
Their love for the good nourishes them continually.
They are like trees planted near the river,
whose roots go deep and wide.
They thrive, bear fruit in season, and
weather drought without wilting.
Those who are not so grounded
will blow around like dry leaves in the wind.
Root yourself in Good, and live.
Learning about salmon intensifies this scripture for me. I always assumed Psalm 1 was teaching that trees planted near rivers thrive because of the water . . . and that’s true . . . but evidently that’s not the whole story. I was watching a documentary about the Elwah river restoration and learned that there aren’t a lot of nutrients in rivers, which is why salmon have to go to the ocean to grow.
Any one of us, including salmon and trees, can survive for a long time on water alone, but in order to thrive, we need nutrients. Trees planted by the river thrive because they are part of an integrated system of sharing. Everyone does their part. The river carries sediment down to create spawning ground for salmon; salmon swim up to spawn; animals like otters, eagles, bears, wolves eat the salmon; the remains break down in the forest and feed the soil, trees and underbrush, which then feed the deer and other forest animals.
While the “good” in Psalm 1 was originally meant to refer to scripture or Jewish Law, this morning I invite us to broaden our view of scripture to include, not just the Bible, which is known by many as the second book of scripture, but also the first book of scripture, which is God’s creation.
What is the “good” in the first book of scripture? I imagine the first place our minds go is to God . . . still I wonder if we can be more specific. If, as Richard Rohr says, God’s creation is God’s own self poured out, what does the manifestation of God look like on a large scale? What comes to mind for me is the turning wheel of interconnection. Here in the valley, it would include the innerworkings of our ecosystem to which the salmon are central. The salmon may swim upstream, but the turning cycle of interconnection also needs the bear, the soil, sun, rain and seasons . . . we might understand the good as the turning of the whole thing together.
And I wonder, what does it look like for us to read the first book of scripture? What does it look like to study it and learn from it and see ourselves as part of it?
What if when we go for walks, we wonder to our surroundings: how are we connected? Maple tree, how are we connected? Seagull, how are we connected? We might thank the wind for circulating oxygen, breathe in, and exhale a breath for the trees. We might give thanks for the rain that soaks the land in the fall, the sun who gives us warmth, the shade of the trees from the sun, the wind that falls leaves, which become part of the soil for our gardens. I find that when I open myself to the questions and tune into the world around me, and the connections that emerge are endless. If you’re like me, it makes a difference to know the ways in which we’re connected to the rest of creation. It provides rooting and grounding.
It is good to be a part of this this incredible book of life. It is good to be sustained by our interconnected sharing . . . and it is good to be grounded and rooted in God’s creation. When I remember this, I just feel gratitude.