Bird Church - January 15
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22; Isa. 42:(1-9)10-17; Eph. 3:1-13; Mark 2:13-22
Today’s Reflection
“Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”—Ephesians 3: 8-10
One of the ways I hold onto hope and connect with God is through spending time outside observing nature. This has always been true for me, but I have felt this even more keenly over this past year. When we started out this pandemic year, I lived in a subdivision in College Station, Texas, with a big covered back porch that looked out onto a tiny, treeless backyard. The view from our porch was of a wooden fence and the rooftops of the tightly-spaced surrounding houses. I spent a lot of time looking up toward the sky and clouds, as there was not much else to look at nature-wise. One saving grace is that we did have a nest of starlings in the top of a hollow column that supported the porch. Their eggs hatched not long after we moved in, so we enjoyed watching these starlings grow and fledge and continue to call our porch home over the year we lived there.
Then, one weekend last February, my younger daughter and I decided we needed to go to Lowe’s with the goal of bringing home a few new plants and a birdfeeder. She found what we both agreed was the perfect feeder—a metal one fashioned to look like a church with clear, arched glass windows and a steeple—and a big metal shepherd’s hook to hang it on, since we had no backyard tree for it. We wondered what other birds might come to visit us now.
Not too long after that, when we found ourselves together all day, every day, working and learning from home, I felt so grateful that we had brought that birdfeeder home when we did. Once we put our church for birds out in the middle of our little back yard—and committed to keeping it stocked with seed—we found out that there were many other birds in South College Station besides starlings. Once we put out the feeder with all different types of seed in the mix, we would still see the starlings. But we also began to see those big, iridescently beautiful boat-tailed grackles—and common grackles, cardinals, finches, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, and blue jays. While we humans could not go anywhere, these birds would fly in and out, unfazed by a global pandemic—and we could live vicariously through their ability to fly over fence lines and socialize with all manner of fellow birds as they came to share the seed at our little bird church.
When we moved here to Birmingham this past July, the bird church was one of the first things we unpacked that made our new, more spacious and tree-filled yard here feel like home, finding the perfect spot for it on a low branch of the massive camellia bush by our back deck. In the seasons we’ve experienced here so far, we’ve welcomed cardinals, robins, bluebirds, house finches, chickadees, thrushes, and doves to the feeder—and felt moments of surprise when tiny hummingbirds and massive barred owls have flown through, too. Every single day, I allow myself to get lost in prayer and thought as I watch the colorful diversity of birds who come to the bird church. Yes, we always see the cardinals the most (they may even have their nest there in the camellia bush)—but it’s especially lovely to see how they don’t mind when the house finches and the bluebirds and the others stop through to share in the feast.
Both the Gospel passage appointed for today from Mark 2 and the Epistle passage from Ephesians 3 remind us of our call to invite everyone to share with us in our communion around God’s boundless (and boundary-less) table. Jesus wanted to sit side-by-side and break bread with all manner of people, but especially those at the margins. Later, when the Apostle Paul wrote to his friends in Ephesus, he emphasized that the mystery God had revealed to him was this: that the riches of Christ are “boundless” and meant for everyone, Jews and Gentiles. The mystery of Christ is that all have “access to God in boldness and confidence.” Paul’s mission, and ours, is “to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known” to all people.
—Becky+
Question for Self-Reflection
Where in your daily life do you see gentle reminders that God’s love is boundless and intended for all?
Daily Challenge
Learn more about how Jesus connected more with marginalized people than with those in any other group in his extended social network by watching our Sunday morning forum from January 10 and our upcoming ones on January 17 and 24. You can view Dr. Jennifer McClure’s next presentation on YouTube this Sunday morning from 9:00-9:50 a.m. by clicking here.