SEEDS, PLANTS and SOULS

20 TREES AND FORESTS

Until now,
we have been considering plants
- natural and spiritual -
as separate entities.
We can grow plants in pots
so that each plant has little effect on another.
But in nature this is not so,
and there is always an inter- dependence of plants
 growing either in a garden or forest.

The soil in nature cannot be divided into units
as if it were in pots.
The same goes for the environment above ground.
It is a continuum,
and what is grown in one part of the soil
will have an effect on what is grown in another part.

Usually a healthy, balanced community
is formed from a mixture of plants,
keeping at bay diseases and making sure
that the fertility of the ground is maintained.

For economic reasons, foresters
(like many farmers)
 have been keen on monocultures
- plantations of only one species -
which in general are not natural
and often produce problems.

Central American Mahogany is an example:
This tree occurs amongst a wealth of other species,
and forms splendid straight trees
from which our furniture is made.
But grown in a pure plantation,
a moth runs rampage through the trees,
laying her eggs in the shoots
which then develop into grubs and eat out the buds.
This reduces growth,
causes the tree to fork,
and makes it almost worthless for timber.

Another example is Teak.
In its natural state,
there are several other species mixed in with it,
and there is abundant green undergrowth
of herbs and shrubs.
However,
when grown in a dense pure plantation,
the shade and the leaf litter cast by the trees
renders the soil underneath bare of vegetation,
and serious erosion can occur on even gentle slopes.

It is for similar reasons that agricultural crops,
almost always artificial communities
and monocultures in the extreme,
are rotated.
Instead of growing a mixture of any one crop
- usually impractical -
the same effect is obtained
by alternating or rotating different crops,
and so helping maintain the fertility of the soil.

In the complex ecosystems of forests,
plants exist in a balanced way.
Mature trees provide shade
for younger saplings of the same species;
plants that require lots of light
grow in the open areas created by trees that have died;
mosses and liverworts grow in shady and damp spots.
Every plant with its own niche,
and each - one way or the other - supporting the rest,
often in ways we are not aware of.

The importance of a balance and mixture
between spiritual plants is also important.
There is no direct parallel to the forest ecosystem
in the Bible,
but Paul uses a comparison with the human body.
This is how he describes
the interdependence of Christians
in his first letter to the church in Corinth:

The body is a unit,
though it is made up of many parts;
and though all its parts are many,
they form one body.
So it is with Christ.
For we are all baptised by one Spirit into one body
- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free -
and we are all given the one Spirit to drink.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
If the foot should say,
"Because I am not a hand,
I do not belong to the body,"
it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
And if the ear should say,
"Because I am not an eye,
I do not belong to the body,"
it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye,
where would the sense of hearing be?
If the whole body were an ear,
where would the sense of smell be?

But in fact God has arranged the parts of the body,
every one of them,
just as he wanted them to be.
If they were all one part,
where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts,
but one body
(I Corinthians 12:12-20)
.
Paul emphasises that each of us has a place
within a community of Christians,
where Christ is the head.
We are equally indispensable,
irrespective of the type of talents we possess.
What is important is how we use them.

In his letter to the Romans,
Paul uses the analogy again,
and lists some of the gifts that we may have:

Just as each of has one body with many members,
and these members do not all have the same function,
so in Christ we who are many form one body,
and each member belongs to all the others.
 We have different gifts,
according to the grace given to us.
If a man's gift is prophesying,
let him use it in proportion to his faith.
If it is serving, let him serve;
if it is teaching, let him teach;
if it is encouraging, let him encourage;
if it is contributing to the needs of other,
let him give generously;
if it is leadership, let him govern diligently;
if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
(Romans 12:4-8)

The botanical parallel to Paul's body
would be the leaves, stem, roots and other parts of a plant.
But at the larger scale,
the individual plants represent ourselves,
and so the ecosystem that can be imagined
as equivalent to the community of Christians.

Now it is interesting to consider
the differences between Christian communities.
Naturally every community, or local church,
will be different in a secular sense
due to the cultural,
social and economic background
of that particular community.

There will also be differences
from a theological point of view
- those that have given rise to denominations -
resulting from different interpretations of scripture.
And then there will be the differences that generate the cults
that sadly fall outside Christian belief.

I cannot help but think
that the denominational variation
of our spiritual ecosystems
is something that God expects and accepts.
Otherwise Jesus would not have talked in parables,
and would have laid out what we need to believe
in black and white.
The important thing is
whether the Spirit of Jesus is allowed free rein
to guide each church in spiritual truth.
As Jesus said of his Spirit:

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes,
he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own;
he will speak only what he hears,
and he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine
and making it known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine
and make it known to you.
(John 16:13-15)
 

Of course,
there will be the equivalents of parasites and weeds
that choke growth of the church,
and even dominate to form a group
so different in interpretation
that the Spirit of God in us will prevent us
(if we listen and act)
 from accepting it as Christian.
If that is the case,
there must be no compromise,
and we must weed it out
(in love, of course!).
But more about weeds later.

In a healthy ecosystem,
there must always be a dynamism,
where different plants give way to others
as growth proceeds.
For example,
if there is an open space in a forest
due to a tree dieing and falling,
the first trees to colonise it will be the so-called pioneers.
They like a lot of light, and grow quickly.
But once shade is established,
other, slower-growing species will grow up and take over.

This surely must be the case
in a community of Christians.
Some will be the pioneers,
others the stalwart, shade-lovers.
There will be times when some will need to find their place
in different communities from the others.
But change within any one community
should always be expected, and welcomed
- otherwise, the community - natural or spiritual -
will stagnate
and not be able to expand and regenerate itself.

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