Virtual Methodist

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.  Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’  Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. 1 Kings 19: 4a (NRSVA) For the first three studies in this series "Beneath Biblical Branches" we have focussed on important and influential women in the Hebrew scriptures. However (and this is a dangerous thing for a man to say in the week of International Women's Day) not every woman leader is necessarily good.  Remember that description of the “timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex” by Justice Joseph Bradley that I quoted last time, well in the background ...

‘Deborah Under The Palm Tree,’ by Adriene Cruz (1995) At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgement. She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, “Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.” Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.’ And she said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh....

I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet Around me like circles on water. Wendell Berry Most people these days are probably aware of the “Celtic” concept of “Thin places” – those places where, for whatever reasons the distance between this world and the next seems paper thin... One of my favourite local thin places is the Giant’s Ring, and on its periphery is a particularly handsome Oak tree... And whilst this oak has no particular age (though there are photos of in dating from the early 20th century) oaks and oak groves played a particularly prominent place in pre-Christian Celtic spirituality – with the Oak groves or Doire/Daire being taken over for church sites - hence Columb Cille’s Derry and other -derries dotted across Ireland. Well in this study we find oaks playing a prominent role... The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards;...

The Fall of Man  (1628–1629) by Rubens in the Prado Museum, Madrid From the fateful encounter of Eve with the serpent in the Garden of Eden through to the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem, the Bible has repeated images of trees where humanity encounters God and Jesus in all sorts of ways with many different emotions at play and outcomes. We find laughter beneath oaks, cynicism under a fig tree, deep depression beneath a broom bush and furious anger under a castor oil plant. What have these stories got to say to us today as we try to find our way in a world where we are out of joint with God and a world in which trees have an important environmental part to play? For the next 5 weeks during Lent I am inviting people to join with me for an online study of some of those encounters in the shade of various trees and shrubs, beginning this coming Thursday at 7.30pm GMT, when we will find Sarah laughing under the Oaks of Mamre. If you are interested in joining us email me at david.campto...