Next time you settle into your seat at our city park’s amphitheater, make note of the thriving mountain ash trees that ring the venue. Then rejoice and be glad, because the First Presbyterians planted them there. Here’s how it came to be – thanks to the powerful, motivating presence of the Holy Spirit.
The project began with special offerings from the congregation, which totaled $428, allowing for the purchase of six trees. Then, after worship on a rainy June Sunday in 2019, an intrepid crew of First Presbyterians dug into the good earth with shovel and spade to give the saplings a permanent home. Among those doing the heavy lifting that day were tree-planters Gloria and Ken Krambeer; Ryan, James, and Mary VanderVelden; Kathy and Bill Campbell; Betty and Ron Steege; Connor and Lee Stegen; Howard Van Ruler, David Hahn, and Jim Johnson.
At the time, trees weighed heavy on the community’s heart. Much-needed road and sidewalk improvements along West Main and Allamakee streets demanded the removal of more than a few beautiful, mature trees. Many of our friends and neighbors mourned the loss of such grandeur – however much community improvement required it. And the First Presbyterians decided to do a little something to assuage that grief – and to demonstrate good stewardship of the natural environment that God created and entrusted to our good care.
The effort was worshipful work for which we surely can take credit. But on sultry summer nights, as you enjoy that concert in park, let all glory be to God! I’m reading to you the bracing Word of the Lord from the apostle Peter –
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God.
You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of debauchery, and so they blaspheme.
But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does. The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.
To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:1-11)
With that backdrop, join me in taking a break and stepping back to reflect on what it means to have done a good day’s work. Let’s start with three reminders, inspired by the commentary of pastor and author John Piper.
First, when you reflect on your work, give thanks that every breath you took, all the intelligence you applied, and all the strength you exerted were gifts from God. Through the lens of such gratitude, your work – whatever it may be, in whatever moment and space – affords opportunities for happy and joyous worship.
Second, when you reflect upon your work – in whatever capacity, paid or volunteer, realize not only that God is the source of its excellence but also that the resulting fruit of your labors depends on God’s continued grace. You literally or figuratively may have planted the seeds, but it is God who waters and nourishes their growth. So go ahead, feel free: Be amazed at God’s grace made known through your work – both in your planting and in your harvesting.
And third, no matter how prosperous your work, no matter how admired or envied your skill, always acknowledge your blind spots. Be honest about how you might have done better, how your talents might be better honed. Be in constant prayer to God – and be listening for God’s response through the voice of others – about how your labors on farm and home, in the classroom, on the jobsite, or in the community can become even more beneficial to others and give even-greater glory to God.
Surely the Holy Spirit will guide your faithful prayers, and here just might be some of the honest and quite-faithful questions that the Spirit is leading you and me to offer before God’s gracious throne of mercy and forgiveness –
Is my lifestyle shaped by Christ? Or is it shaped by the worldly expectations of others?
Are my heart and mindset doing as much as I possibly can for worldly and eternal good?
Has my work – or my hobby, or my pastime – become the false god whom I worship first and foremost? Or is the Lord God himself the One whom I love and serve above all else?! If my work were taken away, would I still treasure Christ above all worldly trappings as totally sufficient to provide my life with identity, meaning, and purpose?
Does my work fit into the totality of my life obligations and responsibilities to family and community, Christ’s Church and Sabbith worship, in such ways that contribute to the overall impact of my life as a proclaimer of the greatness of Christ and the sufficiency of his Good News?
Do I recognize my finiteness and fallibility – my sinfulness – and trust in the Gospel for the forgiveness of my personal and professional shortcomings, so that I indeed can delight in my work without becoming haughty and presumptuous?
Years ago, a student asked the famed anthropologist Margaret Mead what she regarded as the first sign of a culture becoming civilized. You might expect that Dr. Mead would lift up something like a culture’s ability to develop tools for hunting, or to discover the means for growing crops, or to use stones for grinding grains and seeds, or to make clay pots for storing food and water.
But no. Dr. Mead offered up a surprising answer: The first evidence of civilization, she said, was a 15,000-year-old human thigh bone that was unearthed during an archaeological dig.
Remember from your high-school biology class that the thigh bone is the longest link in the human skeleton. It runs between the hip and the knee, and when it gets broken, it takes about six weeks of rest and recuperation for a fractured thigh bone to heal. The 15,000-year-old bone that Dr. Mead was remembering had, in fact, been broken. But, surprisingly, that ancient bone had somehow or other been given the necessary time and the protected space that it needed to heal fully.
Here’s why that’s such a big deal: In the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die.
Think about it: You can’t flee from danger. You can’t hunt for food or forage for water. You can’t do much of anything but lie there with a target on your back. Because if you’ve got a broken leg, you’ll more likely than not become a tasty dinner for the first hungry predator that happens upon you. When you’re living in the wild, no creature – human or otherwise – survives a broken leg long enough for healthy mobility to return. You’re toast long before then!
Unless, of course, someone comes to your aid. That 15,000-year-old broken-but-healed thigh bone of Dr. Mead’s answer is evidence that someone did. Another person took the time to come alongside the injured, and to bind up the fractured wound, and to carry the fallen to safety, and to care for this friend, neighbor or stranger by offering food, clothing and shelter during the six long weeks of recovery.
A 15,000-year-old broken-but-healed thigh bone is proof positive that someone most likely sacrificed his or her own needs to help another fellow human survive, rather than leaving the hapless victim to await the only fate that survival of the fittest demands.
“Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts,” Dr. Mead said. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
How willingly we care for those who are wounded or injured in body or soul, in mind or spirit; how eagerly and graciously we rally around another in his or her time of need; how generously and selflessly we provide healing and comfort, protection and companionship, until the broken are able to rise up and walk again – all those are true signs of civilization! Or perhaps better labeled: They are sure signs that God’s Kingdom truly has come to earth.
Learning to live a life of compassionate sacrifice toward the weak, the vulnerable, and the disadvantaged is the most important mark that a civilization has “come of age.”
Pockets of our world surely have a lot of growing up to do, but elsewhere and here in our community, we see signs that civilization definitely is coming of age – in the holy and precise fulfillment of what Jesus calls the greatest of commandments: Loving and serving God, loving and serving friend, neighbor, and stranger.
To Father, Son, and Spirit belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Pastor Grant M. VanderVelden shared this message during worship on Sunday, June 21, 2026, at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, Iowa, USA.