And a Shoot shall come out of the Root of the Sequoias

A sermon fragment from the 2nd Sunday of Advent on Isaiah 11.1-10 & Matthew 3.1-12 @EmmanuelBakerSt

Recently Hannah and I took a trip up to the Giant Sequoia National Monument. As we walked the trail of a hundred giants, I could not escape this week's biblical texts, full of roots and trees. An inch or so of snow covered the ground and a reverential silence fell upon everyone walking the trail woven among these towering trees. Even children could not help but to gawk in silent awe at the indescribable magnitude of these truly giant sequoias. Certainly, the divine was present in that place of biblical proportions.

I was particularly struck as the trail took us next to an overturned sequoia. There we stood facing the expansive and sprawling root system of this downed giant. It seemed, like in our text from Matthew, the roots of this tree had not been enough.

And yet as we continued along, a little sign from the parks department with a tiny bit of information on these colossal trees helped to shape a different understanding of these roots. I learned that the sequoias are so large that their bark, twigs, and cones constantly rain down from their heights to the forest floor. And through their decomposition, returning nutrients to the soil, the sequoias are brought renewed life through the death of their own bark and twigs.

But this informational plaque went on to include the roots in this description. It said that in the event that a section of the root system was to die, it too would slowly decompose and bring new nutrients into the soil. Ultimately, renewed life would be brought back to the tree whose very roots had been severed.

In this small government approved educational plaque was a powerful statement of God’s grace active in the world. The sequoias proclaim God’s promise of the new life of Christ rooted in baptismal living, life in the repeated cycles of repentance and forgiveness, of death and resurrection. It is the promise that as God cuts away the dead branches, God brings new life which we never thought possible. Through this promise we are emboldened to cut away the excess and the chaff as we prepare and await the new life God brings to the trees and people who are unable to bear good fruit.

As we move forward this advent season, let us boldly prepare the way, cutting back the dead branches and dead roots. But let us even more boldly prepare by claiming our identity as people who eagerly and expectantly await the God who time and again brings the good fruits of new life into the world. AMEN.