This is what a branch of the ginkgo tree outside our church looks like as of this afternoon.  A closer look reveals the unique fan-shaped leaves already there, in miniature form, ready to push out and expand.

On the Tree of Life, ginkgos occupy their own branch, the sole survivor of an ancient lineage.  Present day ginkgo leaves match fossils from 200 million years ago, meaning it has survived virtually unchanged for that long.  Believed by Western scientists to be extinct, it was cultivated in China for perhaps 1000 years, encountered in Japan by a German botanist in 1692. 

Gingkos are a gift from the East to the West.  They also survived a cataclysmic conflict between these two regions.  When the United States dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, it killed nearly everything within 2 kilometers of the blast.  But six ginkgo trees survived and soon returned to health, still alive and honored today.

Ginkgo trees survived the older cataclysm that killed the non-avian dinosaurs.  Unchanged, they have seen an unfathomable amount of change around them.  Including the rise of the mammals, some of whom plant ginkgo trees around Chinese Buddhist monasteries and American Mennonite church parking lots.    

And herein lies a problem.

A ginkgo’s root system is strong enough to push up concrete, which it has been doing to the sidewalk along the main entrance to our building.  As the picture shows, it’s a significant tripping hazard.  Maybe you’ve biffed it yourself at this spot.Our Facilities Commission has been in conversation with an arborist who has said there is no good way to remedy this.  It’s a good tree in the wrong place.  And so, in keeping with our commitment to an accessible and safe facility, we will have the tree removed this spring or summer.

If you, like me, will miss being greeted by this tree on your way in to church, you may want to especially savor these last few weeks with it.  Pay extra close attention to how the leaves emerge.  Enjoy its presence.  Maybe even give it a hug.  And maybe look around your neighborhood for other ginkgos to appreciate, keeping in mind its remarkable lineage and testament to the persistence of life amidst cataclysm.

Joel