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Good morning, sisters and brothers; 

Yesterday we set up chairs beneath the lovely beech tree right outside my office window at the church. We placed sketch pads and coloured pencils on each chair and put our VanGogh's Corner sign on the sidewalk. I brought out my echo device and asked Alexa to play "Take Five" from the Dave Brubeck Quartet and similar songs and we got to sketching. It was a beautiful morning, warm and sunny with just a light breeze. 
I was joined by a fellow artist, green warrior and disciple whose pencil strokes were as frenetic and audacious as Jackson Pollack's. There was such joy in her artistic style, She chose to sketch a tree. She was not fettered by the convention of complementary colours, but rather allowed herself to be swept away by the Holy Spirit and create a masterpiece . 

I also chose to sketch a tree, although mine looks more like something right out of an LSD trip from the sixties. There is no rhyme nor reason for why the sketch ended up the way it did. I did not really think about what I was sketching. I was also swept up by the Holy Spirit . And when I finished, it became evident  to me that  the theme that was hidden in plain sight was arboreal spirits. 

In a reflection at the start of the pandemic, I wrote about a friend of mine who was a member of the Lenape people from Muncie and Delaware County. He was instrumental in my finding a deeper and more meaningful connection to the spirits that inhabit the natural world. When he first caught sight of the enormous oak that stands defiantly in the middle of our fields, he insisted on us walking through the mud to pay it homage. We stood in silence beneath its gnarled branches that extend skyward. He then told me to place my hand on the grooved bark and to close my eyes. After several deep breaths, I began to feel energy. This was my first contact with arboreal spirits. It was very real and transformative. 

This is why I am so passionate about our tree planting initiative. I am delighted that so many of you have agreed to become green warriors. The trees that we wll purchase will be mere saplings. But they will grow in grace and beauty. Each one will have meaning and substance. Each will be like a line in a beautiful poem. And together their arboreal spirits will be as majestic as the aurora borealis on a clear night. 

John 3: 16. "For God so loved the world..."

Let us make this world, God's beautiful creation, a better and greener place to live. We owe it to our future generations. 

May God bless our little reflection group. 

May God bless the Green Warriors. 

Let us pray. 

Gracious and loving God, Creator of heaven  and earth. We give you thanks and praise for the beauty of this morning and for the splendour and majesty of your creation. May the saplings that we plant in the wild meadow be deeply rooted, and may their branches spread skyward towards the heavens, and provide a home to all sorts of creatures. 

Amen 

Que Diosito me los colme de bendicions y alegria hoy y siempre. 

Paz 

I love you.