"Let the Birds Remind Us"

The other afternoon when I arrived home from the office there were two American Goldfinches on my zucchini trellis. I was glad to catch them before they flew off!

I don’t know about you, but these past few weeks (months? years?) have filled me with fear for the future of our world. Violence, politics, empire building - how long, O Lord?

The German theologian Karl Barth is known for having said that we must preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. But this preacher is ready to burn all the newspapers, bury her head in a good book, sink her hands in the garden soil, and let all the terror of the world work itself out! 

Unfortunately, as people who care about serving as Christ’s hands and feet in the world God created and sustains, we can’t really do that long-term. (But we certainly can for moments to restore our hearts - even Jesus took naps!)

Instead of hiding from the events of the world in this time where it seems fear meets us every time we turn on our phones or tvs, let me leave you with a few words from Scripture that this Ma and Pa Goldfinch pair brought to my mind:

-      “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-31

-      “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” Luke 12:24

Today, take a few moments to look out your windows or up at the trees, see the birds, and remind yourself that even when the world around us threatens to crumble, we (and the birds) are immeasurably valuable to God. And then let us pray that God’s justice and mercy would meet us here in the midst of anything the world throws at us.

Blessings,

Pastor Amy