Thanks to Swede and Betty Ann Gustafson for giving a Luther Oak Tree seedling for us to plant on our front lawn. Martin Luther enjoyed spending his free time in the garden among trees and flowers. In one legend Luther said, “If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today!” After a long year of pandemic and isolation, when so much ended or died, the tree is a symbol of hope in promise of resurrection.
The current Luther oak stands in Wittenberg, Germany at the spot where, in 1520, Luther supporters piled a stack of writings of Church doctrine and a Papal Bull that threatened him with excommunication unless he recanted all his writings. The original Luther oak in Wittenberg – when and by whomever it was planted – was chopped down during the Napoleonic Wars because there was a shortage of fuel. The current Luther oak was planted in 1830; in 1904 an unknown person tried to cut it down. Today the tree suffers from air pollution and also the results of this ‘attack’.
God’s story of salvation is told in the trees. From the Tree of Life and the Tree of knowledge of Good and evil. Trees provide oxygen and clean air (like the first breath of God). The tree of the Cross is the Tree of Life and finally the leaves of the Tree for the healing of the nations.
At 2 feet high the tree we will plant is still a seedling, and is just starting to leaf out. Now it looks like a small stick, but it has great potential. Oaks of this species (Quercus robur) often live for 300 years (a number of them are assumed to be 1000 to 1500 years old) and grow to 60 feet high and 60 feet wide.
A member of the ELCA
Immanuel Lutheran Church
830 S Ave West
Missoula MT 59801
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