green tree

I think "green tree" would be a great name for a church... So organic, strong, alive. Trees combine establishment with adaptation, solidity with flexibility, presence with potentiality... a force of life that can exist anywhere and everywhere, even in the harshest of environments. The symbolism is more than tangible.

The Bible describes a righteous man as being "like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." Jesus Christ himself takes the symbolism of a green tree on himself on his way to the cross, when he asks the women of Jerusalem, "If men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" And God's Kingdom is demonstrated through the image of the mustard tree, which grows from the tiniest of seeds to become a vibrant, green tower and shelter to the birds of the air.

What is the church meant to be but men and women, made righteous through God's grace, united under the headship of Jesus to serve as the Body of Christ, working together to establish and expand God's Kingdom in an ever-widening circle of influence? That sounds like a green tree to me...