Shoots from Stumps

Advent 2A – Shoots from Stumps

December 8, 2013

Matthew 3:1-12

Isaiah 11:1-10

Isaiah says,

“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse…”

I don’t know about you,

but when I run across a stump,

I’m not usually thinking, “I wonder what will grow out of that now?”

Instead, frankly if it’s in my own yard, I’m thinking,

“How am I going to get rid of that now?”

Stumps are left over when bad things happen.

They’re left when trees are cut down,

or when they fall from the wind or the rain (and let’s hope not the ice or snow today!)

When I’m on a hike or a walk and I pass by a stump, I’m sometimes a little bit sad –

especially when it’s a great big stump and I can see lots and lots of rings.

Rings which tell its story of years and years of life.

When I see a stump, I think of the life that was, that is no longer;

I’m reminded again of the fragility of life –

that such a thing as strong and as tall and as old and as majestic as a tree                          – can be reduced to a stump.