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| Image by Martin Thomas |
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starlings / sparrows / swallows
A GREETING
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to you, the living God.
(Psalm 84:2b)
A READING
Isn’t life more than just food? Isn’t the body more than just clothes? “Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet our God in heaven feeds them. Aren’t you more important than they? Which of you by worrying can add a moment to your lifespan? And why be anxious about clothing? Learn a lesson from the way the wildflowers grow. They don’t work; they don’t spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in full splendor was arrayed like one of these. Seek first God’s reign, and God’s justice, and all these things will be given to you besides. Enough of worrying about tomorrow! Let tomorrow take care of itself. Today has troubles enough of its own.
(Matthew 6:25-29;33-34)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The sparrow has found its home at last,
the swallow a nest for its young—
on your altars, my Sovereign, my God!
(Psalm 84:3)
A POEM
Barn swallow in the boathouse,
gliding in and out of aging doors and roof holes,
a soaring,
chattering,
spitfire.
Invisible lines, a cat's cradle or
dream catcher,
wrapping wood in
delicate threads,
stitching in the tops of firs
and sun on fire.
- Barn Swallows in the Boathouse, by Sherry Coman
VERSE OF THE DAY
My hand will be ready to help you,
and my arm to give you strength.
(Psalm 89:21)
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The calming words of Jesus in urging all of us to stay rooted in the moment we live in is both radical and challenging. The meaning of this wonderfully reassuring text has been traditionally understood as one of letting go of a material agenda in life and trusting that by helping to build up the realm of God, we all will experience abundance. The images at the center of Jesus’ teaching are the lilies and grasses of a field, which he says do nothing but exist, and in their existence they thrive and grow naturally as expressions of God’s creation in the world. We hear that human beings are "more important" than even these beautiful plants.
In our twenty-first century reality of climate change, however, it can be hard to read Jesus’ words comfortably. Everywhere we turn, we see evidence mounting at terrifying speeds of the inevitable collapse of the planet’s ecological systems, unless we make change. We can believe Jesus that anxious worrying may not add a “single hour” to our life span, but if we don’t do something radical soon, then the tomorrow that will bring “worries of its own” will be upon us in force. In fact, it already is.
How do we hold the wisdom of Jesus that asks us to surrender our will to God’s steadfast love — alongside the pressing necessity that we act quickly to subvert catastrophe? When we care for the soil, the roots, the grasses and the lilies of the field, we are helping to build back how God’s creation is life-giving to us. We also build back habitat for birds. Caring for the earth is how we stop worrying.
The other ecological image that Matthew gives us is that of birds. In chapter ten, Jesus gives the same reassurance as he does in chapter six, and names the birds as sparrows. Sparrows, swallows and starlings were among the bird species of the ancient world that were not directly subject to scriptural and customary prescriptions. These small birds were used as sacrificial animals, except when they had somehow managed to make a nest in the altar of the temple, as we hear in Psalm 84, in which case they were spared. By nesting in the place of death, they save themselves. To be a bird in ancient times, therefore, meant either being banished and frequenting the forgotten places where food was scarce, or living in communities and becoming sacrificial offerings.
While North American sparrows and starlings are not endangered, the barn swallow is listed as threatened in Canada under the Species at Risk Act and designated as threatened or endangered in various provinces like Ontario and Nova Scotia due to sharp population drops.
In order to be able to calm our anxious hearts and minds about the crises of Creation, we need both radical dependence on God’s steadfast love and a confrontation with the truth of what we don’t want to face. We need to nest in the altar of the facts, the inevitable extinctions, so that we can find a way to help creatures survive. How can we be challenged out of complacency into a holy anxiety (while knowing Jesus meets us there)? How can we transform hopelessness to help become part of what creates hope?
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| "A pair of house sparrows at Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple, BR Hills, Karnataka, India" by Ameen Ahmed found on Call of the Hill Myna blog |
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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!
