{"id":18590,"date":"2022-04-01T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=18590"},"modified":"2022-04-02T17:31:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T17:31:20","slug":"give-the-fig-tree-one-more-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2022\/give-the-fig-tree-one-more-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Give the fig tree one more season: A song for the start of April, Earth Month and National Poetry Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Frank Ramirez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I write lyrics for certain scriptures when I can\u2019t find one that suits. Most of them are one-offs, but I\u2019ve had people ask me if they can share this one with others, and of course the answer is yes. It\u2019s set to the tune of the hymn \u201cWill You Let Me Be Your Servant?\u201d It goes with Luke 13:1-9, about the Galileans, the Tower of Siloam, and the parable of the fig tree and the gardener.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/figtree-byJametleneReskp-Unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18591\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/figtree-byJametleneReskp-Unsplash.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/figtree-byJametleneReskp-Unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/figtree-byJametleneReskp-Unsplash-560x374.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption><em>Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Give the Fig Tree One More Season<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>(Text copyright Frank Ramirez. Sing to the tune of \u201cThe Servant Song,\u201d number 307 in Hymnal: A Worship Book)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Give that fig tree one more season. I\u2019ll prune branches, work the soil.<br>Let me fling manure around it. This old tree is wo&#8212;rth the toil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lord, you walked about the vineyard, came upon this aging tree,<br>Found the branches bare and barren, where the fruit should ri&#8212;ghtly be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Give me one more year, my master, I will tend with love and care,<br>I\u2019ll awaken from these branches figs so all may fre&#8212;ly share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of us will be forsaken by our Savior, by the Lord,<br>As this parable reminds us taken from God\u2019s ho&#8212;ly word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we\u2019re weary and forsaken, when our lives are fruitless too,<br>Jesus will our hearts awaken and restore us throu&#8212;gh and through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&#8212; Frank Ramirez is pastor of Union Center Church of the Brethren in Nappanee, Ind., and a prolific writer for Brethren Press, <\/em>Messenger<em>, Newsline, and a wide variety of other publications.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/brethren-and-the-declaration\/\">Brethren and the Declaration of Independence: Denise Kettering-Lane presents an equipping session<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/god-of-grace-and-god-of-glory\/\">\u2018God of grace and God of glory\u2019: A call to worship<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/resolution-on-weapons-transfer\/\">Resolution on weapons transfer is adopted by the 2026 Annual Conference<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/review-and-evaluation-committee\/\">Review and Evaluation Committee brings an interim report<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/global-mission-dinner-2026\/\">Global Mission Dinner hears from EYN president Daniel Mbaya<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I write lyrics for certain scriptures when I can\u2019t find one that suits. Most of them are one-offs, but I\u2019ve had people ask me if they can share this one with others, and of course the answer is yes. It\u2019s set to the tune of the hymn \u201cWill You Let Me Be Your Servant?\u201d It goes with Luke 13:1-9, about the Galileans, the Tower of Siloam, and the parable of the fig tree and the gardener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[3,2404,2067,2403,2406,2132,2405,1968,2407],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-18590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-earth-month","tag-frank-ramirez","tag-gift-tree","tag-give-the-fig-tree-one-more-season","tag-hymn","tag-national-poetry-month","tag-poetry","tag-will-you-let-me-be-your-servant"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18592,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18590\/revisions\/18592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18590"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=18590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}