Deep roots
I just returned from a wedding in Asheville, N.C., and it’s got me thinking about trees. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, you know that trees are plentiful. It’s the abundance of oak trees in the region that gives the mountains their distinctive blue hue (hence the name). I spent a good portion of my childhood in and around the Appalachians, but this most recent trip highlighted the lack of trees in a way I’d never seen.
The Asheville area is only just beginning to genuinely recover from the effects and damage of Hurricane Helene. Debris is piled neatly along the sides of roads, waiting patiently to be picked up and disposed of. Warehouses that sit along the river that flooded are busier cleaning up their lots than they are doing business. Businesses are slowly coming back to life, and residents are feeling more hopeful. But far too many properties and homes still sit completely untouched since the flooding. Far too many trees, some decades old, lay uprooted and split in two. It is impossible to escape the reality that everything we build and treasure, even in the “untouchable” parts of the world, can be wiped away in an instant. This trip to the protected serenity of the mountains was a reminder to me of how fragile the roots we plant, whether trees, buildings, or communities, are in this life.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul reminds these Christians that their lives are rooted in something else. Not in human traditions, not in the things we make for ourselves. Our lives have been rooted by God in Jesus Christ. These roots dig down deep, deeper than any storm could possibly uproot. Our lives are given a new fullness because we’re now nourished in Christ’s own faith and love for us.
There are any number of storms, real or metaphorical, that can make us feel adrift and ungrounded: natural disasters, an unwelcome medical diagnosis, social pressures at school, even family expectations during the Christmas season. But as hard as those storms work to knock us over, our roots in Jesus grow deeper, soaking up the goodness of his love, a reminder to us that we have a new, different life that gives us strength in the face of adversity. We have hope, shaped by love, that the fullness of our lives comes not from things but from our common life together in Christ.
Sharon Sanyi
There is something for everyone in this message. Thank you!
Dixie Kutzbach
Thank you, Pastor Mac. Beautiful.