Lichens are marvelous plants if that is even a correct way to label them. They can grow anywhere, even on bare granite. They are tenacious, strong, diverse, and hardy in all kinds of regions. Rock Tripe, British Soldier, Caribou Moss, Lungwort, are some of the descriptive and colorful names of this marvelous sign of peace. I know that the olive branch and the dove are more universally recognized as symbols of peace. But in my book the very idea of lichen speaks a mental construct of peace, the vision of Lake Superior shores painted with orange, yellow and red crustose lichens conveys serenity, and to walk through a glade carpeted with soft Caribou Moss evokes the feeling of peacefulness. I’m sure you know what lichens are.
On a recent church youth retreat at the end of the Gunflint Trail, my co-leader, Allison Heeren, for a final devotion sent all the youth out into the woods, along the shore, and on the pathways to find an object that they thought would communicate a spiritual truth about God, about the world, and themselves. I confess I didn’t exactly follow the directions because I went out with a specific item I wanted to find. I did not go out into the woods with eyes and mind open to receive something new; I knew what I wanted to share. I went for lichen. And I came back with a small piece of rotting wood carpeted in moss with slender spikes of lichen shaped like delicate chalices. To me, they speak the gentle sharing and cooperating side of nature, and that is what I wanted to share with the group.
Lichens are a community of mutual benefit. Each lichen is actually a fungus and algae growing together in a symbiotic organism. They are one, but it is two. The fungi are able to grip the rock or bark or leaf, even draw some minerals from that to which it adheres; the algae cradled in the moist skin of the fungi are able to create oxygen and sugars from photosynthesis, some of which feeds the fungi. Together they thrive, together they are amazingly resilient and strong. Lichens live long, and some are among the oldest organisms on earth.
The religious and moral life lesson I held in my hand was the counter-point or balance to that other popular notion about nature. Survival of the fittest, the law of tooth and talon, prey and predator capture the imaginations of many. And because of that, the world of nature can appear to be a singular frightening and foreboding reality. In fact that fearsome side of nature has been a mainstay in many stories, whether in books or on a screen. But that is only one aspect of God’s world, and there is so much more. There is so much more than just the harsh, brutal, and dangerous, even though those do exist. To epitomize only one part of nature ignores the fuller revelation possible. To choose only one notion, the fierce competitiveness of species as a life practice, is limited and therefore ultimately unsustainable. We don’t need to be defined by the “winner takes all” or the “might makes right” philosophies. That can lead to a brutal and therefore impoverished life modeled after just one facet discoverable in nature. Rather we can perceive that God has put in place countless ways in which mutuality, sharing, cooperation and interdependence reveal a more profound, helpful, healing, and fundamental way of being. Together we will thrive.
The lowly and often ignored lichen quietly surviving drought, flood, and fire; slowly transforming landscapes through gentle erosion; providing a base for succeeding pioneer plants; becoming food for a variety of animals and medicines for communities close to the earth reveals the subtle yet sustaining work of God. God asks of us to serve one another. I find so much wisdom written in this world surrounding us. I am sure you have noticed that already.
I thank you for the privilege of sharing this month with you. Until the next time I will be back in the woods, on the water, and in the hive, listening for God.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Reverend Mark Ditmanson of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais.
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