DAY 5

Image by Oleg Chernyshov

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Roosters

A GREETING
Out of the depths I cry to you!
God, hear my voice!
(Psalm 130:1)

A READING
One of the high priest’s attendants saw him sitting there at the fire, and she stared at him and said, “This one was with Jesus, too.” But Peter denied it. “I don’t know him!” he said. A little later, someone else noticed Peter and remarked, “You’re one of them too!” But Peter said, “No, I’m not.” About an hour later, someone else insisted, “Surely this fellow was with them, too. He even talks like a Galilean.” “I don’t even know what you are talking about!” Peter said. Just then, as Peter was still speaking, a rooster crowed. Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered Jesus saying, “Before a rooster crows today, you’ll deny me three times.” Peter went out and wept bitterly.
(Luke 22:56-62)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Who instills the ibis with its prophetic wisdom?
Where does the rooster pick up its intuition?
(Job 38:36)

A POEM
Tear-encrusted thick
as a medieval relic
he waits. Poor Peter, heart-sick,

still cannot guess
those cock-a-doodles yet might bless,
his dreadful rooster come to mean forgiveness,

a new weathervane
on basilica and barn,
and that outside the Lateran

there would always be
a bronze cock on a porphyry
pillar so the people and the Pope might see

that even the Prince
of the Apostles long since
had been forgiven.
- from "Roosters," by Elizabeth Bishop

VERSE OF THE DAY
My soul longs for you, O God,
more than sentinels long for the dawn,
more than sentinels long for the dawn.
(Psalm 130:5-6)

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"The Penitence of St. Peter," (17th c.)
Anonymous (Bolognese School)

Junglefowl, the ancestor of the rooster, was a species that were brought to the Mediterranean world from India. Over millenia they became domesticated and their descendant is the rooster. Although roosters do not appear more than once or twice in the Hebrew Bible, they are vividly present in the gospels. The rooster plays an important role in the passion narratives by offering the sign by which Jesus anticipates and Peter realizes his denial of Jesus. The Gemara, a Jewish text of the Mishnah, describes how within the Temple precinct there was a man who cried out at the beginning of Temple service in the morning. Sometimes a rooster was used. Therefore it is possible that Peter's denial happens in the early hours of the morning, near the time of the first ritual worship of the day.

In our contemporary world, when a rooster lives a free and abundant life on farm, he can live from five to eight years. His natural instinct is to watch out for hens, guiding them to food and water through a dance called "tidbitting." Roosters fight predators like raccoons and foxes and sometimes die in the process. The bird, acting freely, chooses to risk death.

The rooster who does not live a free life, is most often processed or killed within a month or two of being born. In the industrial egg industry, male chicks are euthanized within 24 hours because they will not be useful. The rooster is unnecessary and unwanted in mass scale farming and has no role to play in a mechanized henhouse, or even in free-run areas.

The moment of Peter's denial is one of the few places in scripture where a bird plays a pivotal narrative role. The Luke version is the only time Jesus is present and hears the denial. What is the cockcrow that we need to keep watch on our own indifference to animals? As a rooster keeps vigil for the first moment of dawn, the time of safety for hens to come outside, what are we doing to keep vigil for the well-being of farmed animals?

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Image by Johann van Heerden

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† The Winged Word is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 4

Image by Silver Leapers

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Snowy Owls

A GREETING
Because you are my rock, my fortress, and for the sake of your Name, lead me, guide me!
(Psalm 31:3)

A READING
For God says: “I will rescue you from the snare, and shield you from poisoned arrows. I will cover you with my pinions; under my wings you will take refuge; my faithfulness will shield you. You have no need to fear the prowlers of the night or the arrow that flies by day, the plague that lurks in the shadows or the scourge that stalks at noon. Because you have made me your refuge and have me as your stronghold, no evil will befall you, and no disaster will come near your tent.
(Psalm 91:2-6; 9-10)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
(Psalm 102:6-7 NRSVUE)

A POEM
Coming down
out of the freezing sky
with its depths of light,
like an angel,
or a buddha with wings,
it was beautiful
and accurate,
striking the snow and whatever was there
with a force that left the imprint
of the tips of its wings —
five feet apart — and the grabbing
thrust of its feet,
and the indentation of what had been running
through the white valleys
of the snow —
and then it rose, gracefully,
and flew back to the frozen marshes,
to lurk there,
like a little lighthouse.
- from "White Owl Flies into and out of the Field,"
by Mary Oliver

VERSE OF THE DAY
Those who wait for God, find a renewed power:
they soar on eagles’ wings.
(Isaiah 40:31)

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"The Enchanted Owl" by Kenojuak Ashevak

In today’s reading, God’s reassuring protection is like the wings of a large bird, an image that Jesus echoes when he stands looking over Jerusalem and compares himself to a mother hen aching for her brood (Luke 13). The longing of Jesus is the same as that of the Psalmist — that we may be protected from the “prowlers of the night”, which we can hear as not only that which threatens our wellbeing, but the wellbeing of our relationship with God.

But what if we are the "prowlers", setting the snares, knowingly or not? Raptors and birds of prey are considered by scientists as an indicator of the overall ecological health of environments; they bear the brunt of changes that affect habitats and the food chain. Right now, some species of owl, including the snowy owl, are considered "threatened" in Canada and have been identified as “vulnerable” worldwide, a categorization that indicates that their numbers are declining. Increased rainfall and general warming in the Arctic (the breeding ground of the snowy owl) have meant a flooding of nests and a starvation of lemmings, a principal source of food for growing owls.

Over the course of human history, birds of prey and particularly raptors, have been the subject of our projected imagination, embodying that which we cherish or deeply fear. Raptors have an uneasy place in scripture too: while the image of "eagle’s wings" is comforting, most references to them are less so. The owl appears in scripture in association with deep loss, sorrow, desolation and solitude (Isaiah 34:15; Zephaniah 2:14). Banished as unclean for eating by Leviticus 11, it became a frequenter of the wastelands. Because of its banished status and haunting cry, it was associated with omens and negative spirits by other non-Jewish religions and cultures.

The owl has always been a respected and revered symbol of wisdom in Indigenous knowledge-keeping. Owls are spirit guides, with the capacity to see in the dark, revealing knowledge that is hidden and providing companionship through transition and change. How can we be inspired by that wisdom to improve the future of creatures who were made alongside us? What needs to change in our way of thinking, so that animals that are ‘vulnerable’ can return to a place of thriving, abundant life?

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This whimsically instructive video made by the American broadcaster NPR in 2016 tracks one man's attempt to find a tagged owl according to its GPS locations. Project Snowstorm, still active today, is a citizen science-led initiative that observes and documents the flight patterns of tagged snowy owls while they are south, while also helping to relocate owls who are hanging out by dangerous airports. Baltimore, the snowy owl featured in the video, was one of their tagged owls. At the time, the snowy owl was experiencing an irruption -- a higher than usual population. Ten years later, they are officially "threatened." Read more here.



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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† The Winged Word is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 3

Image by Scott McMurren

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Kittiwakes and Seagulls

A GREETING
I will praise you, Oh God, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your marvelous works!
(Psalm 9:1)

A READING
Among creatures that fly, you must treat the following as detestable—you must not eat them, for they are detestable to you: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, any kind of kite and falcon, any kind of raven, the ostrich, the screech owl, the seagull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the barn owl, the pelican, the horned owl, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.
(Leviticus 11:13-19)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Oh, my little bird,
out here among the rocks,
on the mountainside,
where no one can see us—
let me see the beauty of your dark skin.
Talk to me; let me hear
the joy of your voice.
(Song of Songs 2:14)

A POEM
All day I hear the noise of waters
Making moan,
Sad as the sea-bird is when, going
Forth alone,
He hears the winds cry to the water's
Monotone.

The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing
Where I go.
I hear the noise of many waters
Far below.
All day, all night, I hear them flowing
To and fro.
- "All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters," by James Joyce.

VERSE OF THE DAY
But let all who take refuge in you be glad and rejoice forever. Protect them, so that those who love your Name will rejoice in you.
(Psalm 5:11)

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"Kittiwake gulls," by John James Audubon (c.1830)
found in his collection "The Birds of America."

The writers of the bible were not ornithologists. And yet Leviticus 11 names twenty different forbidden groups of predatory birds, calling them "detestable," most likely because predatory birds scavenge on decaying and dying creatures, putting anyone who comes in contact with them in danger of violating the Hebraic purity codes. The banishing of these birds also reflected pre-existing cultural suspicions. Many predatory birds were believed to be omens of evil, bearing bad spirits, who could bring spiritual harm to the one who encounters them. On the other hand, Greek poets of the early common era saw the violence and vulnerability of some of these birds as metaphors for human nature.

Over the centuries of translations, scholars have translated the birds differently (scholars are not always ornithologists either). Therefore what is a 'hoopoe' in one version is a 'lapwing' in another. Seabirds make up a sizeable portion of the banished birds. A pelagic seabird is a bird that spends most of its life out on the open ocean, only coming to land when it is time to nest and breed. Kittiwakes, a species of pelagic seagull, have been around longer than humankind by twenty-nine million years and no doubt they will still be around after we are gone. They populate empty islands of the Arctic circle with huge colonies.

When it comes time to finally come to shore and nest, kittiwakes will often choose coastal urban areas, settling into tall buildings that simulate coastal marine cliffs. The adaptability of these birds fails, however, if food sources are gone. Contemporary kittiwakes and other gull species are declining because of the overfishing of sand eels, a problem that affects a wide variety of marine birds.

While the bible forbids contact with some birds for religious and cultural reasons, contemporary conservationists are constantly working to push forward policies and regulations that will ensure the survival and wellbeing of those that are threatened. Then, as differing needs of those in power emerge, those helpful policies are sometimes rolled back. Human beings are therefore capable of using laws and regulations to both condemn and uphold endangered wildlife. Kittiwakes now have a "vulnerable" status worldwide. What can we do to assist those who are working to save and protect the habitat and food of seabirds?

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Narrated by Tom Dickins, a British ornithologist and specialist in seabirds, and recorded in 2014, this video mentions that kittiwakes have already been in trouble "for about a decade." The video is meant for other scientists, but has helpful information.


Rissa-cs is a Norwegian agency acting toward the conservation of Arctic seabirds.
Read about them here.

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† The Winged Word is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 2

Image by Koshy Koshy

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Turtledoves

A GREETING
Like a swallow or a dove,
I twitter, I moan. My eyes grew dim as I look to the skies.
Sovereign One, I am overwhelmed! Be my security.
(Isaiah 38:14)

A READING
Then he sent out the dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground, but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark, and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return to him any more.
(Genesis 8:8-12)

MUSIC


MEDITATIVE VERSES
So I said, “If only I had the wings of a dove!
Then I’d fly away and find rest.
Yes, I’d fly far away,
and find rest in the desert.
(Psalm 55:6-7)

A POEM
My little doves have left a nest
Upon an Indian tree,
Whose leaves fantastic take their rest
Or motion from the sea;
For, ever there the sea-winds go
With sunlit paces to and fro.

The tropic flowers looked up to it,
The tropic stars looked down,
And there my little doves did sit
With feathers softly brown,
And glittering eyes that showed their right
To general Nature's deep delight.

My little doves were ta'en away
From that glad nest of theirs,
Across an ocean rolling grey,
And tempest-clouded airs.
My little doves who lately knew
The sky and wave by warmth and blue.

And now, within the city prison
In mist and chillness pent,
With sudden upward look they listen
For sounds of past content,
For lapse of water, smell of breeze,
Or nut-fruit falling from the trees.
- "My Doves," by Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
published in 1838 in the volume The Seraphim and Other Poems.

VERSE OF THE DAY
Don’t give the vulture the life of your dove;
don’t ignore forever the lives of your little ones!
(Psalm 74:19)

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"Turtle dove mourns her husband," an illustration found in 
Bestiaire D'Amour, by Richard de Fournival (1250).

Doves are referenced more times in Scripture than any other bird. Because they were so plentiful and therefore cheap, turtledoves were the ritual sacrificial offering of those who were very poor. In Genesis 8, Noah sends out a dove (after the raven) to determine if there is land nearby. After twice seeing the dove return, finally it does not. In a voyage that is preserving only two of each species, a missing bird could signal no mate for the remaining one. The 'sacrificial' association with the turtledove is therefore present; there is a willingness to accept extinction of that species.

When we in our own time engage in development that we know leads to the destruction of natural habitats and breeding grounds of birds, how much are we participating in the same kind of willingness to risk extinction of species?

The turtledove migrates from the Sahara, where it winters, to northern Europe in the spring. It has inspired songs such as Shaker hymnist James Whittaker's In Yonder Valley, as a way of expressing joy at the arrival of milder weather. And yet many turtledoves do not arrive where they are headed. Turtledoves are hunted during the migrating season -- to an estimated three million in southern Europe alone. While some of these kills are for food, most are for sport -- with longstanding cultural approval. Despite bans imposed in many areas on the migration route, the tradition continues.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem "My Doves," was written in response to receiving a lavish gift of two turtle doves, sent from the Caribbean to London to live with her in a birdcage. Browning imagines how much they must long for their homeland. The poem captures a different kind of migration, and like hunting that is for sport, the birds suffer for the sake of human amusement. Meanwhile, doves mate for life and a signature courting sound in some breeds is laughter.

As God often surprises the expectations of human beings, the dove in the story of Noah brings back a piece of greenery and in so doing ushers in new life. What are we doing to help ensure continuing survival and new life for the turtledoves and other birds in our own time?

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For more on some efforts being made to protect the turtledove, read about the work of Operation Turtle Dove. We will be returning to doves towards the end of the series! 

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† The Winged Word is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 1

Image by Mary Ellen St. John

Ravens

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A GREETING
The earth and everything on it—
the world and all who live in it—
belong to you, O God.
(Psalm 24:1)

A READING
At the end of forty days Noah opened the porthole he had made in the ark and sent out a raven. It would fly off and return to him as the waters were drying up from the earth.
(Genesis 8:6-7)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening, and he drank from the stream.
(1 Kings 17:6)

A SONG LYRIC
Walk through the world with care, my love,
And sing the things you see.
Let new names take and root and thrive and grow.
And even as you stumble through machair sands eroding,
Let the fern unfurl your grieving, let the heron still your breathing.
Let the selkie swim you deeper, oh my little silver-seeker,
Even as the hour grows bleaker, be the singer and the speaker.
And in city and in forest, let the larks become your chorus.
And when every hope is gone, let the raven call you home.
- from The Lost Words Blessing, written by Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter, Jim Molyneux, and Kerry Andrew. Lyrics found on thebirdsings.com

VERSE OF THE DAY
I could fly away with wings made of dawn,
or make my home on the far side of the sea,
but even there your hand will guide me,
your mighty hand holding me fast.
(Psalm 139:9-10)

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"The Raven and the First Men," by Haida artist Iljuwas Bill Reid (1980)
with the assistance of Reg Davidson, Guujaaw, Jim Hart, George Norris and George Rammell. In Haida story, Raven finds the first humans when he opens a clamshell. Image found on the website of Art Canada Institute.

"Walk through the world with care my love."
The lyric that opens "The Lost Words Blessing" invites us into the Season of Creation, a time of deepening our awareness of the crises affecting our planet and all its creatures, while also renewing our commitment to its wellbeing and restoration. As we become mesmerized by watching artist Jackie Morris draw a raven, how can each brushstroke draw us deeper into a meditation on the beauty of birds? Over the next days, we will focus on that beauty and also on how we keep vigil for the birds whose numbers are in great decline. We will consider both the bird species that are vanishing and the work being done by some conservators to try to preserve, nurture and sustain them. Artists also carry this passion - creativity is at the heart of God's work and can inspire our own action.

"The Lost Words Blessing" was created by the Spell Songs collective, a group of musicians inspired by The Lost Words, a collection of poetry and illustrations by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris celebrating words that were dropped from an update to a children’s dictionary in the UK. (They have since been restored.) Many of the "lost words" described creatures and plants and the musicians adapted them into songs. "The Lost Words Blessing" names the lark, the heron and the raven among those birds who deserve to be always in our living vocabulary and memory. The song also carries much more: it holds the grief we all have about the disappearance and/or extinction of species that once thrived, as well as the hope that abides even at the very heart of grief. This year MacFarlane and Morris released a new work, "The Book of Birds: A Field Guide", which has been part of the inspiration for this devotional series.

The first bird that Noah sends out is the raven. Even before the dove, the raven is the brave voyager, the first creature allowed to leave captivity on the ark and to be itself. The raven is profound in Indigenous storytelling, associated with Creator and with many Indigenous origin stories.

Over these days, we will consider and celebrate some bird species that are currently imperiled. We will also follow the way in which birds were characterized, demonized, banished and also ritually killed in scripture and how that thinking continues today, long after the biblical days of suspicion and sacrifice.

The song asks us to let the raven call us home when our hope is gone. How can all birds help call us home to the Christ that dwells in the created world? How does being called home, call us also to action?

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Ravens mate for life and also use synchronized acrobatics as a way of playing and strengthening their bond to each other. How much can we relate to this in our lives and partnerships? And how can it help us think about our commitment to care of creation?



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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† The Winged Word is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!