Under the sheltering branches of the meeting tree the people gather to tell the stories that build their common life and to talk about the business of the community, about who they are and what they are called to be.
In America in places like South Bend, Indiana, the tree is the Council Oak. In 1681, under the shade of a great oak tree, the French explorer La Salle held a council with Indian leaders, which led to the Miami Treaties.
For nearly three centuries, a Council Oak tree stood near the Little Niagara Creek in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The large tree served as a shelter, marker and gathering place for generations of Native Americans who lived in the area. During the 20th century university students met and studied under the branches of the grand old tree.
In Africa is kept the tradition of the meeting tree, a baobab tree, under whose capacious branches the village gathers to meet, trade, teach, and talk with one another. There they discuss community matters, relate the news of the day, or tell stories, thus the expression ‘under the baobab tree’. Children grow up to recall evenings spent listening to storytellers with their families, gathered under the baobab tree, illuminated in the glow of the moon.
This is the place the community gathers, the tree the focus – or rallying point – around which they gather. It is there under the tree that the community is unified, in conversation around significant issues, in confrontation sometimes, finally in concurrence about what really matters.
What kind of tree does our community gather under? The answer is easy to obtain and yet difficult to accept.
The tree we gather under is the tree upon which Jesus hung: we gather at the foot of the cross, with his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene; with his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her.
That is where we gather. Whatever else we are, wherever else we might be, wherever we go, we end up here. At the feet of Jesus— as he hangs on the tree of Calvary, the cross, crucified.
The Son of Man— the Human One, as Walter Wink calls him; the representative of all humanity— and the Son of God: that is the one who gathers us, that is the one who calls us together. It is at his feet, acknowledging our common humanity and our common need, that we find ourselves together in community, and alone, each of us, where all that we have, all we have done and all that we are, is laid down like an unwanted burden, to rest.
It is at the foot of the cross that we discover our common humanity and our uncommon salvation, our despair and our hope. We find there peace, grief, and grace— at last. We find our true calling. And we find it together, made one in Christ.
Collect for Holy Cross Day
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself: Mercifully grant that we, who glory in the mystery of our redemption, may have grace to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Prayer for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.
Prayer for our own Reshaping
All: O Christ, the master carpenter, who at the last, through wood and nails, purchased our whole salvation, wield well your tools in the workshop of your world, so that we who come rough-hewn to your bench may here be fashioned to a truer beauty of your hand. We ask it for your own name’s sake. AMEN.
—Fr. John
On July 22, 2009, the Very Rev. Victor Atta-Baffoe, Canon Theologian of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Coast, Ghana, came to St. Mark’s Cathedral to discuss the Anglican Communion, where we are in the Anglican covenant process, and what we are called to be as a global church. He reminded us where we all meet: at the foot of the cross.
The collect for Holy Cross Day was written by the Rev. Dr. Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., for the Book of Common Prayer (1979). The prayer for mission is found in Morning Prayer. The prayer for our own reshaping is from the prayers of the Iona Community.
For St. Alban's Grapevine, September 2009
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