I walk from my apartment to the church through Prospect Park. Occasionally, if I have enough time, I cross over Lookout Hill, and especially if it's a windy day. There are white pines up there, and the sound of the wind through white pines is just about my favorite sound in all of God's creation. It always lifts my spirit, but it also stirs my sehnsucht, my longing.
Bruce Caton, in his marvelous and beautifully written history of Michigan, reports that there used to be magnificent stands of white pines all through the Lower Peninsula. These were lumbered early on. He reports that the early lumbermen could find the largest ones simply by listening for their distinctive sound.
I was unaware of white pines till I lived a while in Michigan, and it was there I came to love them. Sixteen years ago I planted one in Hoboken, and it is doing very well. (You can see it on Google Earth, in the backyard of 606 Garden Street, just to the left of the magnolia.)
Now I look for them in Brooklyn. You can see some from the D train, off New Utrecht Avenue.
What gave me special joy last week was to see a young one, a volunteer sapling, growing on Lookout Hill. I praise God for such things.
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The blog of Reverend Doctor Daniel Meeter of Old First Reformed Church, 729 Carroll Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215, (718)638-8300
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- Old First
- Daniel James Meeter grew up in Manhattan, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Jersey, and Long Island. He was ordained to the Reformed Church ministry in 1980, and has served churches in Jersey, Michigan, and Ontario. He earned a Ph.D. from Drew University in 1989, and has published two technical books in theology as well as many articles. He is married to Rev. Melody Takken Meeter, the Director of Pastoral Care at the Lutheran Medical Center of Brooklyn. They have two married children. The Old First Mission Statement: Old First Reformed Church is a community of Jesus Christ in Brooklyn. We welcome persons of every ethnicity, race, and orientation to worship, serve, and love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We embrace the following missions: 1. To offer God's word, prayer, the sacraments, and discipleship; 2. To offer outreach, education, fellowship, and music; 3. To offer sanctuary to anyone seeking spirituality and hope; 4. To offer hospitality to community groups and the arts; 5. To care for the gifts we have been given through our Reformed Church, including our historic sanctuary and building.
2 comments:
Trees, wherever they are found, deserve to be loved and acknowledged. Thanks for loving the trees of Brooklyn!
As I read your blog, I was remembering family vacations around Lake Superior and Lake Michigan--invariably our first stop would be Hartwick Pines State Park...home to quite a bit of old-growth white pine.
You're welcome, Becca.
And how could I forget the white pines I love, on either end of the deck at the cottage. Melody and I have considered calling our cottage Pine Rest.
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