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The Story of Old Man Cedar

October 19, 2005 - 8:14am

In the latter years of the 19th century, an ashe juniper sprouted in a thicket near the Camino Real, the King's Highway, just north of San Antonio, Texas.

Ashe juniper, juniperus ashei, normally grows with multiple trunks in a short, squatty fashion, making it look more like a bush than a tree. In this case, the little juniper sprouted in the middle of a dense grove of live oak and mountain laurel. Desperate for sunlight, the tree grew straight upwards, reaching always for the abundant light above. Within five years, its slender trunk burst through the canopy, and it began to spread its greenery above the oaks in the nursery where it had been born....

Click here to read the rest of this essay at The Christian Century online.

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Archive of Christian Century Articles by Gordon Atkinson

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rlp

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Essay | Church

Wow.

Submitted by kims on October 19, 2005 - 12:59pm.

Wow.

Another in a line of

Submitted by TimH on October 19, 2005 - 1:19pm.

Another in a line of wonderful essays. Although I find it strange that many times Christian Century places your essays on their web site, but rarely in print within their magazine. I believe the last one I saw was Main's Folley of which Michael and you graciously signed for me. I'll have to drop them a line because after all, you were the primary reason I obtained a subscription to their magazine. I bid you Peace.
Tim

CC likes the traffic I

Submitted by rlp on October 19, 2005 - 3:02pm.

CC likes the traffic I generate on the website. I have a feeling that is the idea. I would like to be in the magazine from time to time, so yeah, drop them a line. ;-)

Nacogdoches Road... So odd

Submitted by Estepp on October 19, 2005 - 2:04pm.

Nacogdoches Road... So odd to be reminded of the city (Nacogdoches) that I graduated High School from, being 2300 miles away in Portland, OR.

*** This is not a signature...***
http://www.projectlucidity.com

gordon- what a beautiful

Submitted by Anonymous User on October 19, 2005 - 4:35pm.

gordon-
what a beautiful essay. i found myself deeply moved imagining the place of prayer that has been created after years of chaos and nature's battles. i hope to visit old man cedar soon.
peace,
pamela (www.nicapamela.blogspot.com)

I love your stories. There

Submitted by jeremyca on October 19, 2005 - 9:49pm.

I love your stories. There are a few trees on the church grounds of my home group that are just amazingly HUGE.Many large trees on the green spaces here are like "Old man Cedar!" If only trees could talk, we'd have some serious history lessons.

Someday I hope to meet Old

Submitted by Third Grade Mind on October 20, 2005 - 5:45am.

Someday I hope to meet Old Man Cedar. Man, that is some fantastic writing!

This is marvelous. Sent

Submitted by Jonah on October 21, 2005 - 8:14am.

This is marvelous. Sent link to my nominally atheist older brother, and he also had a positive response. He's a fellow west Texan, so he knows whereof you speak.

Jonah
http://jacsongs.blogspot.com

Very beautiful...

Submitted by abiding on October 21, 2005 - 9:13am.

Very beautiful...

I find it strange to read

Submitted by Anonymous User on October 21, 2005 - 9:48am.

I find it strange to read you writing about yourself in third person. Not your usual voice; I think I prefer the first-person immediacy and elegant simplicity. Good story, though.
Diana

You know I never give much

Submitted by rlp on October 21, 2005 - 11:15am.

You know I never give much thought to 3rd person vs 1st person. It just comes out of me one way or the other. I think I find it hard to write about myself doing something like praying that prayer at the end. It feels like I'm drawing attention to myself, when I prefer to draw attention to the tree and to Anna. But again, it's not like I spend much time thinking about it.

Man trees never say

Submitted by Anonymous User on October 21, 2005 - 10:58am.

Man trees never say anything. Of course tress don't have a brain and therefore lack a soul. They amount to mindless consumers, which would of course leave them unmoved by prayer. That tree is probably quite indifferent to your spirit of peace and reform. Of course isn't that always the way of things?

I went back and forth about

Submitted by rlp on October 21, 2005 - 11:19am.

I went back and forth about that last sentence. I didn't like it at first, but used it as a placeholder for whatever I would use to close. Then I dropped it. Then I added it back. I think you've hit upon the reason I left it, though it was more instinct for me than a thoughtful choice.

The tree is not a part of these musings of mine, which are solely human. I think a part of loving nature in a proper way is not falling into the trap of "humanizing" everything from spotted owls to puppy dogs. I think that last line was there as a way of tipping my hat to the detached dignity of nature. Of course, that detachment also leads to great evil, from our point of view. Nature moves and changes with no concern for us.

Boy does it ever.

Submitted by Anonymous User on October 21, 2005 - 2:53pm.

Boy does it ever.

I found your essey really

Submitted by Anonymous User on October 25, 2005 - 11:49am.

I found your essey really touching--like I started crying here at the office:) But also felt confused at the end, and I guess it was because I was trying to humanize the tree. I had a hard time reconciling its majestic and peaceful characteristics with its selfishness and lack of mercy for its neighbors. It had earned its right to exist, yet according to the gospel, none of us have earned that right. So, I didn't know how to let the tree be an example to me. But God relates to his creation in different ways, and that is a great point that his relationship to nature is different than his relationship to us. I love that God doesn't work in inclusive definations of good and bad, right and wrong, black and white. He knows his creation has become too messy for that.
Sarah

I think I left that last

Submitted by rlp on October 25, 2005 - 12:23pm.

I think I left that last sentence in there because I didn't want to humanize the tree. I'm fine acknowledging that all of what I felt was inside me, not coming from the consciousness of the tree - whatever that is if it is anything.

For some reason it comforts me to think of nature pushing along with no regard whatever to the sentient creatures on earth. A tree is only obedient to the irresistable calling to be a tree. It carries no other burdens, certainly not the burden of worrying about what its life does to others.

That is something I can take

Submitted by Anonymous User on October 25, 2005 - 12:36pm.

That is something I can take from the tree, it only being obedient to its call to be a tree. I confuse myself so much worrying about my affects on others, good and bad, that I loose sight of my calling to be me. Thanks, for your responce. I will definately be bouncing this around my brain a while.
Sarah

You would probably like to

Submitted by bossykena on October 21, 2005 - 7:11pm.

You would probably like to read Tree by David Suzuki... it's a whole book on the same concept as your essay... you follow the life of a Douglas-fir tree for the better part of this millenium. It is a very humbling and thought provoking book, at the same time very spiritual and scientifically and historically sound.

I have not been on RLP for a

Submitted by Anonymous User on October 31, 2005 - 12:16pm.

I have not been on RLP for a while, so this comment might be a little tardy...

I was moved to tears by your essay. It was a combination on things: 1. the image of an exitence beyond our control (Old Man Cedar) being transformed into an instument of peace by a child. 2. By the "grace" your church has given to this tree that would otherwise be considered a nusience. 3. By the fact that a chainsaw could have laid waste the drama that has played out over the years before...but you recognized the significance of Old Man Cedar's current standing.

Now, there is something much more beautiful to behold. The chainsaw culd have attempted a clean slate...but now there is redemption.

How often have we begged for a clean slate when what we needed was redemption?

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