Ok here’s a true story that’s kind of weird. One night at Duke Divinity School in about 2009 or so there was a fierce storm. I had gone up to the library to print some documents. I was parked on the circle; there was only one way in and out.

The storm knocked down a large tree that fell across the road I had to take to get out. I only realized this after a few minutes of being stuck behind a line of cars and a bus. I got out of my car in the soaking rain and asked what was happening.

The bus driver said that the administration had been notified and they were getting the appropriate approvals to send out a crew to remove the tree. I got back in my car. 30 minutes passed.

Then a guy knocked on my window. Apparently a group of people had gathered around the tree. There was one guy who was pitifully ripping bark off the tree and trying to push it. He said come help me. At first I laughed but then when others joined in, I joined in too.

Some people started to get off the bus. We had about a dozen people and we managed to move the tree about an inch. But that was enough to get people shouting and recruiting more from the bus. In the end another dozen or so got off.

I don’t remember what the critical mass was or how long it took, but when we got enough people, we pushed the fucking tree out of the road. I think I used this story in a sermon illustration once because it showed me what faith means.

It’s not about agreeing with some propositional truth so you won’t get kicked out of the club; it’s about believing that impossible obstacles can be removed if we work together and trust in our collective power.

I wonder sometimes if that’s what God is: the collective spirit of a community that has decided to do impossible things together. And I’ll confess something that probably would have ruined the story if I told the truth in the beginning.

I was actually the guy ripping bark off the tree helplessly by myself at first. I banged on car windows and hollered at bus passengers until two dozen or so people were helping to move it. But it could have been anybody. I just liked having an excuse to get soaked in the rain.