The Lichen Church

 

The Lichen Church

^{Acts 2:3 “}And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

^{Acts 2:41 “}Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

     Lichen is an interesting organism.  Similar to moss, it can cover new exposures of rock.  Thriving in wet times and drawing back in wet times to become brittle.  I first met this covering as we vacationed in upper Minnesota.  Canoeing was our game, however climbing in and out tended to be a spectator’s sport.  If deer were watching we could easily be embarrassed as the swampies, as we were called by the locals, attempted to mount the canoe.  From rock out cropping, Dad would push the vessel into the water and steady the stern.  Gingerly we would step from the rock into the craft.  Death defying in judgement, step placement was everything.  See, our enemy lichen was there covering the substrate and making the underneath a slippery hold.

     Lichen’s ability to grow where no other plant can grow makes them very important.  They are the first organisms to populate on newly exposed rock.  Needing no roots, they thrive as their environment affords.  Light and moisture in the air determine its growth.  They are extremely susceptible to atmospheric change going dormant during dry times become brittle about their edges.

      Contrast lichen with the Sequoias of California.  Deeply rooted down, the giant trees reach their history back thousands of years being some of the oldest living creations on earth.

     Mankind’s faith in monotheism dates back to the beginning.  His roots are detailed in Genesis.  God, in wanting to further clarify Himself, chose Abraham then finally to Moses to write a law showing our need for a savior.  This indeed is a Sequoia of faith.

     But in Jerusalem, the heart of Judaism, a new exposure was cut out of existing rock dating back to Joshua’s conquest.  Something new God got going on with the outpouring out of His spirit on all flesh.  Not Sequoias, His message spread like lichen covering the new rock outcroppings like Antioch.  God’s new Church looked entirely different.  Being set firmly on the Rock, it grew.

     God did a new thing.  His growth could not be limited in time.  Wherever the Rock was exposed, new Church grew.  Up into Europe and around the Mediterranean, the Romans eventually took it to farther reaches when Christianity became its state religion. 

     Did God know what He was doing?  Yes, the seeds of the Sequoia needed special soil to propagate.  Proselytizing took time, the kind God did not want.  The conversion of a heart to Christ was immediate.  His infused Spirt gave the growth only He could work.

      Lichen had been my enemy as a youth.  It’s slippery surface upon rock meant a quick dip in the drink if I didn’t step carefully.  Now, its meaning in metaphor becomes clear.  The Church grew upon a historical Christ revealed in the Old Testament.  Sequoias clung to their roots and became negligent in their pride of rejecting a Christ.  The Church confessed, as Gentiles entered in, its strength was the Rock and not its heredity in the commonwealth of Israel.  It demonstrated its ability to thrive in adverse conditions as in the catacombs of Rome.  God’s new growth comparable to lichen, grew where no roots were before.