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| 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!
