The birch, the wind and the returning King
Gilded in silvery bark that’s paper smooth,
the dancing birch, lost in wonder finds its groove.
Green, yellow, orange, gold-leafed and flecked with light,
A choreographed forest of delights.
Bowed down low, then branch and bough to the sky,
Gone with the wind in plentiful supply,
Who blows and goes wherever he pleases,
Moving stems and heads and leaves with breezes.
Giving the sea and the sky a roaring voice
Trees of the field wake to clap and rejoice!
Creation that groans in birthing pain
Also joins together in sung exclaim…
Our Maker has a returning hour
When he’ll come with such enlivening power.
He will waken the dead not just the dawn
And chase away all that’s dark and forlorn.
Animating us to the nth degree
The children of God we will truly see!
The breathless will breathe and rocks will cry out.
Those in Christ will rise, adding to our shout…
Hail the loving King who is just and true!
Hail the risen King dying to renew!
Hail the King of the mountain and the tree!
Hail the King of the birch and you and me!
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Psalm 96
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Isaiah 55:12
12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
‘I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’
Romans 8:18-21
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.