Eastertide

May 20, 2022

Scripture Reading:
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. –Revelation 22:1-5

I learn something new every time I read scriptures that I have read many times before. Hopefully, I grow more spiritually from my exploration. This morning when I read that there were twelve kinds of fruit on the tree of life—one for each month, I wondered when the idea of months began. I guess, I just accepted that a tree could produce a different fruit each month.  So, I googled when did months begin and was surprised to learn that it is traced back to 3100 BC by a people called Sumerians in Mesopotamia. Each of their 12 months had 29 or 30 days. The Gregorian-based calendar we use today was initiated in 753 BC. I experience a similar surprise when I think I have written something unique, but when I google for pictures to illustrate my idea, I almost always find many pictures from which to select using the same language.

God created an ordered world where generations after generations of people recreate that that existed since the beginning.  A world where rain nourishes the earth creating rivers that flow to oceans, the sun rises and sets, and plants feed on the sun’s light and produce and contribute to clean air for us to breathe. God had enough faith in us to let us enter such a place with the freedom to interact wisely or not with the world and each other. That is an amazingly wonderful opportunity that we must not take for granted. Our job is to make the most of God’s great gifts within the rule of God’s love. We get that at times, but at other times we stumble by stepping outside God’s order and stop caring for both the earth and all the people that are on it. Each day we must take stock of our living in God’s world and recalibrate when needed so that our lives flow like the water of life in our being fully the person God created us to be. We must work harder at doing that in community with all others.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for placing us in a world of wonder. Guide us in caring for it and each other. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.