Forests Sunday

When we lived in Northern Ontario we saw plenty of the scraggly jack pines of the region and red pines and the iconic white pines of the A.J. Casson painting. When we were in Colorado a knowledgable guide pointed out pinyon pines, and lodgepole pines, and limber pines. The latter got their name because they are limber, flexible in the strong winds of the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains.

Most of us can generally differentiate between deciduous and evergreen trees, then it tends to go downhill from there. I am always amazed at the people who are adept at identifying trees not only by their leaves but the bark. I'm not so good at it, but I do love trees. They are both the oldest and biggest living creatures on the planet and we couldn't breathe without them.

This Sunday will be, for us, Forests Sunday in the brief season called Creation Time. In recent years our United Church has been encouraging an ecological awareness season as our response to the degradation of the world which God brought into being. We have been such reckless tenants that God probably should have asked for a security deposit, but for some reason we are still loved. Creation Time encourages us to respond to that love by cleaning up our act and "living with respect in Creation."

Do any of you have a thing for trees? Did you climb them or swing from them or fall from them as a kid? Does it make any sense to have a Forests Sunday or should we stick to the basics of salvation?