Foundations, revivals and sustinance

And I leave you with this question: the hazelnut lasts and will last because God loves it, but the elm trees almost all died. Why?

Firstly, mea culpa - I have been in a whirlwind of musical showcases, activities week, multicultural days, awards ceremonies and end of term tensions, fractions, highs and lows.

The Elm Trees have not died! 

They have been significantly reduced, but grow, as sucklings full of life, year on year. It is only when they reach maturity that Elm Disease takes hold of them. Dutch elm disease is driven by a deadly partnership between a fungus and the elm dark beetle. The insects act as carriers, transporting fungal spores directly into the vascular systems of healthy elm trees when they feed on young twig crotches. Nevertheless, each new generation starts fresh and has an equal chance of becoming the mature elm that once dotted the landscape.

Elm trees were once giants of the landscape, standing high above the hedgerows at well over 30 metres or more. The interlocking grain in their wood made them a valuable water-resistant timber used in buildings, ships, coffins and even early water pipes. Elm trees used to be planted as way-markers by farmers at the boundaries of land as they are very visible in the landscape. So much has changed and the trees do seem to be under attack, but the potential for life to be sustained exists. 

Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, was a Cistercian house established in 1132 but was ruined after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.When the original group of thirteen devout monks fled St. Mary's Abbey in York in December 1132 to live a simpler life, they settled in the wild, desolate Skelldale valley. Without any buildings, they survived the harsh winter by sleeping, eating, and praying beneath the branches of a large elm tree, covering themselves with straw. During a severe famine, they even boiled its leaves and made them into a bitter soup.

The famous Fountains Abbey elm lived for hundreds of years before eventually succumbing to decay and completely disappearing. Today, visitors can still explore the surrounding ancient woodland and the abbey ruins. While the original elm is gone, you can still see the famous sevens yews (though now six remaining) on the southern declivity of the hill, which the early monks used as shelter after the elm. 

While, today,  millions of these young elms exist, they usually succumb to Dutch elm disease once they mature, as larger, thicker bark attracts the beetles that spread the fungus. However, some rare, naturally resistant mature trees and newly bred DED-resistant cultivars are now surviving.

I wonder if you are seeing my parallels? Christian communities which once flourished declined, decayed, became rotten, died out, were persecuted...and yet also re-grew, flourished, renewed, developed and changed. They exist, and continue to exist because God made them and God loved them and they always will (cf Julian of Norwich). I think it is a bit like the meta view of the biblical narrative: the people flourish in the presence of God, rebel, go into exile, decline, return and flourish again throughout.

Once again, apologies for my delayed conversational reply...I'll get to thinking about the rosary and fitting in now!