As the morning sun crested the Seven Sisters east of Asheville, North Carolina, I stood in its pale light near a sparsely decorated flower cross. Easter was early in 2024. I had asked those attending the sunrise service to bring clippings from their gardens for our cross adornment. There were some early dogwood flowers, a few wilted daffodils, store-bought filler shirking the rules, and a few clusters of delicate white flowers that looked like small bursts of firecrackers.
After the benediction, I stood surveying these wondrous flowers on the cross. My friend Steve stood next to me and said, “Those are sarvis-berries or, as more civilized folks call them, serviceberries.” Steve is a retired U.S. Forest Service Biologist and Researcher. Steve explained that these flowers were from the serviceberry tree, a tree that produces its buds very early. Its name comes from the fact that often these were the only flowers to adorn the altars of church services, weddings, and funerals in the early spring season. They also signaled to early circuit riding Methodist preachers that the ground was thawing and it was time to get back on their horses.
Selecting “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World”
The months crept by after this conversation, and those small white flowers faded from my memory. I sat with a trusted mentor, picking his brain about my fledgling book study and what book we should do next. He asked if I had heard about Robin Wall Kimmerer’s new book. It was short, poignant, accessible, and named after a tree he could not remember the name of! A quick Google search for the book title revealed that elusive plant again: “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World.“
I talked to my leadership team, and we decided this book arrived at the right time. Just before the white flowers would begin blooming on the trees around our old church cemetery. Right on time for our hearts to be stretched and shaped by the wisdom of the more-than-human creation.
Our Book Study Structure
Our typical Sunday afternoon book study follows the same pattern. My group firmly believes that liturgy is the work of the people and that all moments when folks gather together are, and should be seen as, a holy fellowship. Every time my small church plant gathers, we pray the same opening and closing prayer and check in on one another’s faith journey by asking three questions:
- In what ways did you experience or observe God’s presence over the last week?
- In what ways did you feel distant from God this past week?
- How would you like to grow in your relationship with God this next week?
The shared prayers help dislocate the central voice from the credentialed pastor in the room (me) and place it on all of us (the priesthood of all believers). The three questions help keep us honest with one another while also deeply rooting our community in our own faith journeys.
We had studied two books before embarking on “The Serviceberry.” One book was deemed too secular, and the one that followed was deemed too heady and exegetical for seekers and committed church members alike. In an effort to split the difference, I set about pairing the seven chapters of “The Serviceberry” to biblical texts, supplemental readings from theologians and agrarian writers, and guiding questions across four weeks plus an introduction week to invite members into the series. This study and the overarching structure can be found in this PDF: Central Haw Creek “The Serviceberry” Study.
Each Sunday over five weeks preceding Lent, a group of 8–12 got together. We ranged in age from 21 months (my son Silas) to the late 70s and everything in between. We had folks who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, people who had not darkened a church door in 15 years, and folks who have been faithful church people longer than I’ve been alive. Our conversations were lively, respectful, and a salve to my sometimes cynical soul.
The Response
I had many folks say that they loved this book and our study of it. Many folks in the class bought copies for family and friends to encourage them to read it. As people who had all just experienced the destruction of our realities by Hurricane Helene, we deeply resonated with Kimmerer’s discussion of service economies that pop up out of nowhere like ephemeral flowers or berries and nourish communities in deep and rich ways. I also observed intergenerational friendships forming. People who would never speak to one another normally stayed after study to chat—so long sometimes that I would have to shoo them out into the evening! The most overwhelming response was a deeper appreciation for God’s created world and all the beauty and gospel truths that can be found in the branches of a tree that nourishes birds, bees, and bodies all the same.
Featured image is by Anya Chernik on Unsplash