Legend has it that the rare thorn tree on a hill in southern England had ties to the earliest days of Christianity, and pilgrims often left offerings at its base. In more recent times, local children honored its current incarnation each year by cutting sprigs to place on Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas dining table.
Now British police want to know who sawed the limbs off the Glastonbury Holy Thorn Tree, reducing it to a stump. And they want to know why.
"I've just driven past the site, and people are coming out in tears," said Glastonbury Mayor John Coles. "I've never seen a sadder sight, or a more serious act of vandalism, in my 60 years in Glastonbury."
Perhaps this cherished symbol even dates back to a time when druids ruled ye merry ole Angle Land. When the "Good News" was brought to town, many locals (North Americans?) combined tradition with the new religion so they could make sense of their lives.
Whatever the true story, a great wrong has been done to a dear living instrument of faith.
She wrapped her arms around a tree
And cried for those who were not free
For heroes deeds and lives she wrote
And e'en tars on fishing boats
She cried for men who'd hew this down
To make a table or build a town...
But this deed wasn't done to build a town, ladies and gentlemen. This was a cowardly act by an immature and malevolent twerp; one whose dirty soul is in urgent need of our prayers.
Dear Father in heaven, please lay your righteous hand on the perpetrator of this evil, and cause this person to confess to You if not to others the wickedness of their deed. Bless them, Father and help them to sin no more.
Amen
Thanks to the NPR website for its excerpt and to
Lois Armstrong Shuck "Death of my Father".
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