The Leaping Greenly Spirit of Trees
- davidwperk
- Feb 28, 2024
- 7 min read
Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, February 28, 2024
The week of the second Sunday in Lent
The Rev. David W. Perkins Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
3‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 953)
AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96
Gen. 42:18-28; 1 Cor. 5:9-6:8; Mark 4:1-20
Today we celebrate the Feast of Anna J. H.Cooper. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Imagine a sunny day, a green hillside disappearing into the Sea of Galilee, several hundred people milling around, and Jesus’ voice bouncing off the water from his perch in a fishing boat a few yards off shore. Reading today’s Gospel and having that scene come alive brought lines from one of New England poet and painter E. E. Cummings’s poems to mind.
i thank you God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes +
Here is a parable that expresses believe in the leaping greenly spirits of trees, in an infinite, natural life from God springing forth. Tiny wheat seed sown in less than ideal circumstances overcome hindrances from birds, soil, and sun to yield an unusually fruitful harvest of wheat.
Jesus’ followers had reason to fret about the outcome of Jesus’ ministry of preaching and teaching and healing. The opposition from prominent religious leaders was proving formidable and enduring. Many in the crowds were thrill seeking and superficial. The significance of Jesus’ words and actions were lost on so many of them. Jesus’ followers were painfully aware of the seed of Jesus’ message that were falling into places where precious little would sprout.
Yet, Jesus believed in that fruitful, life-creating energy of God. He preached, taught, and healed convinced that the seed and the soil had a natural affinity for one another and that the harvest would be plentiful, that the amount of good soil far exceeded the poor soil. And, he was right. From such a small beginning with one person and his vision, all that we know of Christianity has sprouted, an abundance that human reckoning cannot tally.
This parable invites us to interrogate our vision of the world and of God’s words of love and salvation. Sharing and living puts the seed in the soil; an abundant harvesting cannot but be the outcome. Seed and soil belong together. Only a lack of confidence in the “leaping greenly spirits of trees” hampers a life of sowing and expecting. Jesus lifts our focus from the negative and the losses to the possibilities of new life sprouting. Imagine huge numbers of people saying “yes” to the message of God’s saving love and being drawn into community. Now triple what you have imagined.
Jesus’ story also invites us to revamp our expectations of our own souls. We may be aware of birds, shallow earth, and thickets within ourselves that struggle against Jesus’ transforming love. But, there is more to us than those negatives. Jesus’ presence and teaching live within us as well. Do we dare expect a harvest? Do we dare risk the expectation that “the leaping greenly spirit of trees” will bring forth an inner bumper crop of love, transformation, and freedom? Again, Jesus invites us to lift our focus from the negatives to the possibilities of new life sprouting.
Cummings’s poem, an articulation of renewal and new birth, continues and ends with these lines.
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)+
+E. E. Cummings, Selected Poems.with introduction and commentary by Richard S. Kennedy. New York: Liveright, 1994), p. 167.
Collect of the Day, The Second Sunday in Lent
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 218)
Collect for Wednesday of Week 2 in Lent
O God, you so loved the world that you gave your only-begotten Son to reconcile earth with heaven: Grant that we, loving you above all things, may love our friends in you, and our enemies for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men, p. 44)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Anna J. H. Cooper, educator (died 27 Feb 1964 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Anna J.H.Cooper
Almighty God, who inspired your servant Anna Julia Haywood Cooper with the love of learning and the skill of teaching: Enlighten us more and more through the discipline of learning, and deepen our commitment to the education of all your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Grace
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
For Guidance
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you
would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 832)
A Prayer for Light
Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)
Daily Office Gospel, Mark 4:1-20
4:1Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ 9And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’
10 When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; 12in order that
“they may indeed look, but not perceive,
and may indeed listen, but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.”’
13 And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14The sower sows the word. 15These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. 17But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. 20And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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