Today is the Tenth Anniversary of my first Sunday as Pastor in my current church. Alarmingly this is my second Tenth Anniversary! But time is not the issue, is it?
A few days ago I heard an interview with a professor who had researched the effects of trees on the human spirit. Apparantly the good professor’s research revealed that if you drive down a tree-lined highway you arrive more relaxed, less stressed, than you do if surrounded by concrete. This effect is more pronounced in heavy traffic. And it works in walking too.
But the interviewer came up with a devastating question, "Do trees have the same effect when their leaves fall off?"
And the answer was no. Without their leaves they are essentially useless to changing the passer-by. Like the Christian church really. It doesn’t do any traceable good by just being there. It must be seen to be alive..
I have come, said Jesus, that they might have life, and have it more abundantly..
