Birds of Pray?

When we lived in Waverly NY we often drove past St James Roman Catholic Church, where a flock of pigeons could be seen sunning themselves on bright days. This caused my older son, Steve, to remark, “Look! Birds of Pray!” Evidently these were descended from the swallows mentioned in Psalm 84… Readings for this weekend deal with God’s Providence: not only to birds of the air, but to ALL living creatures. Some who will hear these scriptures may have been feeling insignificant and unlovable; here is another opportunity to remind them that the Creator called “Good!” everything that was made. We and the birds are all part of God’s ecology.

The reading from the Old Order comes from the prophet Ezekiel, 17:22-24. God is portrayed as a caring nursery-man who transplants a vital sprig from the growing edge of a cedar tree to a mountain location. The sprout becomes noble, and the birds build nests in its branches. A bud from the stump of Jesse? These are intended to be words of comfort and life-promises to the Babylonian Exiles, but they’re appropriate for all generations. Who are the refugees in our pews? Have they felt exiled from their Fields of Dreams? Storms and earthquakes come and go; but the word of the Lord lives forever.

A little bit of a leap takes us to the Epistle, II Corinthians 5:17. It begins with a phrase of assurance, “So we are always confident”. Having heard of a God who tenderly nurtures the World’s Garden, we’re urged to take up residence and citizenship there. Taking the plant analogy to non-Pauline extremes, we recognize that our bad habits, cruel words and careless attitudes are those non-productive tendrils which are pruned away as we become reframed into our true nature as bearers of the Holy Likeness. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

The Gospel of Mark 4:26-34 includes two parables of Jesus talking about seeds. The first–appearing only in Mark–describes the Kingdom of God as a fertile plot upon which someone (God?) has scattered seeds. Sunrise & sunset go by, and eventually the plants ripen and can be harvested. That’s the way things grow, thanks be to God. The second parable may be more familiar: the notice that a mustard-seed (the smallest of all) will eventually grow into a thriving bush which hosts…the Birds of the Air! There is displayed here a mysterious yet vital power of life which takes the tiny and easily-buried virtues of each of us and magnifies them into the fullness which was the original intention of the Creator! Does it look like you’re dead? You’re not…

God really must like birds; God made so many of them! Early in our holy-history we heard about the dove which Noah released, which came back to announce dry land; this then turned into the Dove of the Spirit which ripped through the heavens to anoint Jesus at his baptism. There’s the lonely bird on the proverbial house-top. And we hear about the eagles, whose wings bear up the believer; and the sparrow, who has caught God’s eye. “Fear not, little flock, for you are worth many sparrows!”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My musings on scripture lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at horacebrownking.com