"Trees" (1913)
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.
This humble poem was written by Joyce Kilmer. He wrote it in 1913 and published it with other poems. “At the time of his deployment to Europe during World War I, Kilmer was considered the leading American Roman Catholic poet and lecturer of his generation. He enlisted in the New York National Guard and was deployed to France with the 69th Infantry Regiment in 1917. He was killed by a sniper's bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne on July 30, 1918 at the age of 31.” (wikipedia) Just over 100 days later, the Armistice would be signed “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” and the majority of the fighting would be over.
Today is the centennial commemoration of the end of World War I. When I think of WW I, I think of Joyce Kilmer and his call to serve. I think of my great Uncle Roy who served in WW I including a stint in Siberia. I also think of the German book (Im Westen nichts Neues) “All Quiet on the Western Front” which I read in college which looks at the war from a German author.
I think of Sergeant Alvin York was once described as World War I’s “greatest civilian soldier,” yet he began the conflict as a conscientious objector. He objected on religious grounds to participate in the war, but he became convinced after much discussion with others that God meant for him to fight and would keep him safe, even as he tried to kill as few as necessary. For his efforts in one offensive capturing 132 enemy soldiers with his company of 9 soldiers, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross and several other citations for bravery. Shunning the spotlight, the reluctant soldier returned to his home in Tennessee after the war and took up farming. In his diary he reflected upon his service…
“God would never be cruel enough to create a cyclone as terrible as that Argonne battle. Only man would ever think of doing an awful thing like that…So you can see here in this case of mine where God helped me out. I had been living for God and working in the church some time before I come to the army. So I am a witness to the fact that God did help me out of that hard battle; for the bushes were shot up all around me and I never got a scratch.”
After the war, York formed a foundation with the mission of increasing educational opportunities in his region of Tennessee. Before the war, during it and after, Alvin York was trying to be faithful to the God he found in the bible and that he had experienced in his church in TN and whom he felt walked with him every day.
I think Alvin York if he stood before us today would challenge us here to be faithful to God, in whatever circumstances come before us. We might not be drafted into a war, but we will end up in circumstances beyond our control, how will we respond?
As our PB Michael puts it, “In the first century Jesus of Nazareth inspired a movement. A community of people whose lives were centered on Jesus Christ and committed to living the way of God’s unconditional, unselfish, sacrificial, and redemptive love. Before they were called “church” or “Christian,” this Jesus Movement was simply called “the way.””
Kilmer and York were both part of this movement, this way of life and love with Jesus. As his disciples today, we are called to follow that way of love, to be part of the movement and embody it with our lives.
How do we do this? It begins with…
1. engagement with scripture (psalms, day by day)
2. transforming power of the eucharist and our participation in it
3. entering into a deeper prayer life (BCP, handouts)
By living into scripture, eucharist, and prayer, we will follow the examples of others being faithful with our time, talent and treasure. Just as the widows in our readings today.
In the first reading, the widow of Zarephath with her son who have nothing to give, still provides hospitality to the prophet Elijah with food, which never runs out during the famine. The widow at the treasury in the Gospel reading who gives all she has to fulfill her faithful obligation.
Giving of our lives and our money is not just the act of giving but in the attitude of giving; that such gratitude should translate into generosity with our lives. It is that attitude that our readings exalt in the widow’s gifts. In the economy of God, numbers are not the true value of giving: it is what we give from our want, not from our extra, that reflects what we truly value, what good we actually want to accomplish, what we really want our lives and this world to be.
In the Gospel scheme of things, it is not the amount of content of the gift but the measure of the love, selflessness and commitment that directs the gift that is great before God; for Christ calls us not to seek greater things or talents to astound the world but for greater love and selflessness with which to enrich the world.
Kilmer and York did that 100 years ago. How will you give today? Amen.
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