October 05, 2025
• Rev. Dr. Rob Fuquay
St. Luke’s UMC
October 5, 2025
World Communion Sunday
The Faith of Trees
True Colors
Genesis 50:15-21
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Okay, English Lit majors, who is the author of that poem? Joyce Kilmer. I confess, somewhat embarrassingly, that I didn’t know anything about Kilmer’s poem Trees until I went to my first assignment as a pastor in Western North Carolina. One of the churches is located at the base of Cold Mountain. My first October there, someone suggested we take a church outing to Joyce Kilmer National Forest, located near the western most point in North Carolina.
Named after Joyce Kilmer, it is a forest of large, magnificent trees, that were in peak color. So one crisp morning about a dozen of us met at the church parking lot and carpooled together to make the 2 hour drive to this national forest. The person who got in my car was a woman I figured to be in her mid-late fifties. She never smiled. She wasn’t rude, just, let’s say, she had little affect.
So the conversation while driving was pretty much up to me. After about ten minutes the silence became uncomfortable, so I asked, “How long have you lived here?” A long time. “Do you have family.” Yes. Any children? No response. Long silence, and then she said, “My oldest was 13 when he died.” I said, “I’m so sorry to hear that. Was he sick?” “No, he died in a hunting accident. He went out with his best friend and was accidentally shot. I never believed the friend’s story. And nothing ever happened to him for it. And I think I’ve been pretty angry, and angry at God.”
Silene again. Then she asked me, “How old are you?” I thought, Here we go, I thought, wondering if I’m too green to even have this conversation.” I said, “I’m 25.” Silence again. Then she said, “I thought that’s about how old you are. You’re the same age my son would have been.”
I’ll come back to the rest of that story in a few minutes. I was reminded of it when thinking about the sermon today that considers the changing color of leaves in the fall. This series came from an inspiration earlier this summer when I was on study leave at our condo in Colorado. I was sitting at our dining table with books and papers spread out, wondering why inspiration wouldn’t come for other sermons. Now, hanging over table is this picture. (Show pic) So I just started staring at it and daydreaming, when inspirations began to come, not for the task at hand! Instead, it was other thoughts. I never know why God doesn’t give me what I need when I need it, but I parked my other work, grabbed a note pad and started writing. Those thoughts became the basis of this series.
When I got back home I met with Pastor Mindie to talk about sermons for the fall, and I suggested we might do a series called The Faith of Trees. And she looked at me much like you are right now, but as I explained it to her she said, “I can get on board with that.” And so for these three Sundays, we are going to explore spiritual ideas that come from trees, and we begin right where we are at the time of year and that is the beginning of color change.
Whether you are looking around Indianapolis, or go up to Michigan, or down to the Smoky Mountains, or up to Vermont, or out to the golden Aspens of Colorado, trees are beginning to explode with color. And as you may have learned in high school biology class, this is the time of year we see the true colors of trees. Green is not the true color of most trees. Green a result of chlorophyl, a green pigment that converts light and carbon dioxide into a tree’s food source. Trees are green when life is full.
But its now when we see the true colors of trees—yellow, gold, orange and red. And many people love the beauty of this time of year. Roads slow down with leaf lookers out for a drive. We may even complain about the pokiness of leaf lookers, but come on, who doesn’t enjoy the beauty of fall? But have you ever thought that such beauty is revealed because the trees are under stress? The chlorophyl is reducing. The food source is receding. And the stress of this time reveals a tree’s true color.
Well, that’s a good parallel to life isn’t it? When its summertime, when life is full and things are going well, its easy to talk about the kinds of people we want to be, the character we want to exhibit. But it’s when we are under stress that our true colors emerge. Sometimes that may be in keeping with our aspirations, but others times our actions may look different. Trees show us that stressful times reveal our true colors, and if we allow it, even work at it, such times can exhibit beauty and glory. So how can we have the faith of trees?
Let’s consider the character of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was the youngest of twelve sons born to Isaac, who was renamed Israel. These twelve sons of Israel would go on to become the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel, largely because of Jospeh. Here’s how the story goes. When he was a boy Joseph dreamed that one day his brothers would look up to him, that he was created to be someone great for his family. But his brothers resented Joseph for his dreams. So one day they sold him to slave traders who took Joseph to Egypt where he was made a servant in the home of an Egyptian official named Potipher. “But,” we are told, “the Lord was with Jospeh.” Joseph could have wondered where God was in all this. But we, the readers of this story, know, God was with him throughout his distress.
Jospeh applied himself and became successful, so that Potiphar put Jospeh in charge of everything he had, until…Potiphar’s wife seduced him. Jospeh knew this was dishonorable, to her, to himself, but most importantly to God. When he declined to give in to her advances, she accused him of rape. Now Joseph was thrown in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph.
Joseph encouraged the other prisoners. The captain of the guard took notice of this and put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. Later when two of Pharaoh’s servants fell out of favor with the king and were put in prison, Jospeh helped them. One of them was eventually restored, but…he forgot about Joseph. Two years went by,But the Lord was with Joseph.
Then one day, when the king had trouble understanding a dream, his aide remembered Joseph and told the king. Joseph was summoned and helped Pharaoh, who released Joseph from prison, gave him a position, and Joseph proved himself valuable. Why? Surely we can say it together now, “Because the Lord was with Joseph!” Eventually Pharaoh made Joseph a prince, second in command of all Egypt.
Then, a famine sent Joseph’s brothers to Egypt looking for food, because they heard people were prospering there. Of course, the person they would have to see about buying grain was none other than their brother whom they had sold into slavery years before. When they realized this, they were shattered, because they knew Joseph would get revenge. But Joseph understood that God had been with him all along; with him to fulfill a dream to rescue his family. So now he sees how God was at work through everything he went through. He said to the brothers, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:19)
You intended to harm me. Some translations say, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”
So two observations I offer from this story; observations that help us think about the fall leaves and how stress and crisis can lead to beaty and glory. The first is this:
1.Crisis may take away options, but it can’t take away our ability to choose. Joseph was stripped of his freedom, his privileges, his family, his security, nearly all of his blessings, but he was never without the ability to choose how he faced those times. What was the food of the spirit that kept him going? A dream. A silly dream, that God put him on this earth to be of use to his family one day. And because he wouldn’t quit on that dream, all along the way we read, “But the Lord was with Joseph.” Joseph chose to believe.
Jean Paul Satre was a French prisoner of war under the Nazis. In his essay “The Republic of Silence,” he said, “Never were we freer than under German occupation.” What he meant was, even when every practical blessings were removed, it put him in tough, more than ever before in his life, the power he had to choose. He wrote, “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.”
Interestingly Sartre is an atheist, but even an atheist can speak spiritual truth. “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” As we choose life, beauty, glory, we allow glorious things to emerge, just like a tree in fall.
2. Believing God will bring us to a beautiful outcome helps us hang onto God when things are ugly. Joseph held onto a dream, a dream that one day his family would look up to him. That dream gave him something to live for. He would have to be there one day for his family. One day God would provide a beautiful future. So when things turned ugly, Joseph held onto the belief that the Lord was with him. When you hold on to that belief, you hold to the possibility that glory can emerge.
So back to my excursion at Joyce Kilmer National Forest. We arrived and spent a few hours hiking and being mesmerized by all the beauty of the trees. Then we piled back into our cars to drive home. A few miles down the road I said to this woman, “I want to thank you for telling me about your son. You trusted me with your story.” I paused for a moment before continuing. “Of course, I can’t imagine what that has been like for you. I have no idea. And, I can’t imagine what it must be like for your son’s friend. You told me they were best buddies, that there was nothing your son liked more than being with him. It doesn’t sound like he had any reason to hurt your son. And if it was an accident, what an awful thing he’s had to live with. After all, he was just 13. I’m sure he had no idea how to respond.” Then I said, “But what I can imagine is how God feels. God knows what it is like to lose a son. I believe God endured the cross so that we would know God understands that same kind of pain. I can imagine God wants to share that with you.” She didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was pondering, then I asked, “If your son could say something to you right now, what do you think he would say?” She didn’t hesitate. She said, “I know what he would say, “Mom, it’s time to move on.”
That Sunday at church someone asked her, “How did you like the excursion the other day?” She said, “I rode out there with a kid I didn’t know. I came back with my pastor.” That’s not about me. She did the hard work of opening up her life. And though we never talked in depth again about her son’s death, over the next few years at that church I saw her start smiling, and being freer, and laughing.
It's amazing what can happen when you just take time to look at trees.
So you received in your bulletin today a leaf, like a fall leaf. Something that reminds us of the beauty of trees in autumn. And I want you to put this leaf somewhere you will see it often, especially a place where you tend to experience the most stress. Perhaps at home on the refrigerator, or in your car, or at work.
--Do you get reactive to what’s going on around you, and those moments cause you say things you don’t like? Maybe write on your leaf who you want to be in those moments. Perhaps your word is Control. Remind yourself that’s your true color. Nothing can take away your ability to choose not to be defensive and reactive.
--Maybe your word is Patient. Perhaps stress causes you to lose your temper or get in a rush. Remember this is your true color. You are a patient person.
--Maybe the word is Courage. Stress may cause you to flee. You avoid any conflict or difficult conversations. You maybe start giving up in your thoughts. Remember, Courage is your true color.
Think about what stress does to you most of the time and how you wish you responded? Choose your word. Write it on the leaf with a Sharpie pen, or perhaps you don’t need to. You can associate that word with your leaf, so that everyday, you say, “That’s my true color.”
God gave us His Holy Spirit so that we don’t have to be determined by the events or climate around us. We can bring something beautiful into those climates. And the world needs all the true colors of God’s children to shine through. So let these leaves remind us: The Lord is with me to live my true color.