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Faith and Feathers

A significant number of people have always been fascinated by birds, their variety, beauty and habits becoming important subjects for study and reflection. Those with an eye for the Transcendent have found in birds a message of confidence and hope for a troubled world:

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more value than they? (Matthew 6: 26).

Also the regularity of bird migration has given others a prophetic edge to their witness:

Even the stork in the heavens knows its times; and the turtle dove, swallow, and crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the ordinances of the Lord (Jeremiah 8: 7).

And, since the beginning of time, human endeavour has been modelled on birds – nest building inspiring architects and bird flight informing aviation. No house built by humans is such a combination of the functional and exquisite as the nest of the long-tailed tit; every fisherman envies the precision of the gannet; while the harrier and peregrine are the envy of the aeroplane industry.

Above everything else, however, it is the sheer beauty of birds which for many draws the eye and moves the spirit – the colourful intricacy of the firecrest, one of our smallest birds, the silent flight of the iconic barn owl, and the power and magnificence of the golden eagle soaring above a mountain. Then, there are the jokers: puffins with colourful bills that match the ridiculous circus clown and black guillemots with their ‘over the top’ red legs! And, of course, we ought not to forget that birds have been described as God’s musicians. The nightingale’s melody brings a touch of Mozart to springtime, while a ‘reeling’ grasshopper warbler or ‘chirring’ nightjar has reminded many a devotee of Baroque or Romantic that there perhaps is a place and a point for Stockhausen after all! As far as I am concerned, the dawn chorus is far more thrilling that Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’!

For those with eyes to see it is difficult not to believe that “what can be known about God” is given to us in creation generally and through birds particularly (Romans 1: 19). So, for this inveterate ‘twitcher’, a day’s birding inevitably is an encounter with those “signals of transcendence” (Berger) we need when sermons fail us and theological words seem beside the point.

Sociologists have shown that one of the features of the western world is that a deep religious and spiritual searching is by and large not being met by institutional religion. In a materialistically driven world it is no accident that such searching does take place; nor is it fallacious to suggest that all of a piece with this searching is the current renewed interest and fascination with nature which has been brought to a focus by programmes such as ‘Spring Watch’, ‘Autumn Watch’ and ‘Nature’s Calendar’. One significant way of helping people connect with the God we have seen in Jesus is through the natural world. As we learn to experience and appreciate ‘the things [God] has made’ we become drawn to the One who made them (Romans 1: 20).

It seemed a good idea therefore to weave together bird watching, worship and fellowship in a weekend retreat. A quite perfect place to do this is on Lindisfarne in Northumberland, and a great time to hold it is when many of the waders, ducks and geese will have returned for the winter. Mid-October also opens up the possibility of seeing rare species blown onto the island while migrating south to Africa from places like Siberia. (A couple of years ago on an October Saturday Holy Island held European roller, red-breasted flycatcher, yellow-browed and barred warbler plus a great grey shrike!) Therefore ‘Faith and Feathers’ has been born*.

*David Peel, with Adrian Hughes and others, will be leading ‘Faith and Feathers’ on the weekend of 17-19 October 2008.  Accommodation will be at Marygate House on Holy Island and the cost is £100 per person.  Bookings to the Revd Barry Hutchinson, St Cuthbert’s Manse, Lewins Lane, Holy Island, Berwick upon Tweed, TD15 2SB (st-cuthberts-centre@surefish.co.uk)

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THE BIG FAMILY CHALLENGE!
By Revd Richard Becher

I want to introduce you to a new family who are in church today. They are the Big family! Big in name and size because they are all, well, just BIG!

First, there is Big Mouth who always has a lot to say and never stops saying it. In fact, she has so much to say that no-one listens anymore because they can’t remember what she was saying when she first started saying whatever it was she was saying. Even Big Mouth can’t remember what it was she was saying, which can be very confusing for everyone.

Then there is Big Head who is always boasting about everything he does, which is always good and never wrong, so everyone else feels so very inadequate in his presence that they do not do anything for fear of being told how wrong they are.  That means that Big Head is not only always boasting, but is also always moaning that no-one else is doing anything. Big Head therefore is convinced that the world would fall apart without him.

Big Nose is the third member of the family and he can smell a rat a mile off so is always warning the family when trouble is on the way. Of course, Big Mouth always has too much to say and Big Head always knows best, so they never listen to Big Nose but everyone else is to blame when trouble comes. Big Nose decides to follow the scent of success for himself though, but that makes him very selfish because he doesn’t share anything with anyone.

Big Ears, of course, has a big advantage because he can hear twice as much as what Big Mouth can speak, and what Big Head can think and what Big Nose can smell, but he just lets everything go in one ear and out the other because none of the others will listen to what he has heard.

Big Eyes is much the same because he can see twice as much but because whatever he says to Big Ears goes in one ear and out the other; and because Big Mouth is to busy talking to listen; and because Big Head never listens to anyone and Big Nose is just following the scent of success for himself….. Well, he just closes his eyes to everything, except the things he wants to see.

Now, you can imagine that means the family are in a real mess because they are not listening to each other, hearing what they need to hear or seeing what they need to see.

Now when Big Heart was born into the family something amazing began to happen because she was so full of patience and kindness; she wasn’t jealous, conceited or proud; nor was she ill-mannered, selfish or irritable, but was just happy with the truth. She had faith, hope and love in her heart and because she had love everything she said was heard – eventually, anyway!

Big Head and Big Mouth continued to sound like noisy gongs which were out of tune and no-one could understand, but Big Heart persuaded Big Eyes to open her eyes and she saw someone she had never seen before reaching out and asking her to follow him.

She decided to speak to Big Ears but what she said just went in one ear and out the other so she blocked one ear and he didn’t hear anything. So she unblocked that ear and blocked the other one instead so that what went in couldn’t get out!

Big Eyes told Big Ears about what she had seen and then a shining cloud came over them and a voice said: “This is my Son with whom I am pleased – listen to him!” Normally that would have gone in one ear and out the other, but this time Big Ears heard because of what Big Eyes had done. Big Heart had opened the eyes and ears so the truth could be seen and heard and when that happens it is only a matter of time before Big Heads and Big Mouths are changed……..

Now if you know such a family perhaps you can be the big heart that is full of love, hope and faith that can open the eyes and ears so that heads will be filled with the wisdom of God and mouths will proclaim that the kingdom is near because everyone listened to what Christ had to say.

They saw a shining cloud come over them and they heard a voice from the cloud say: “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased – listen to him!”

Open our eyes, Lord 

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Resource for a Holiday Club -
By Rosemary Webb 

This drama formed part of a Parachute Fun Day – one of four afternoon sessions held at Holly Mount URC on Wednesday afternoons in the school holidays in the summer of 2007, aimed primarily at the 6-10 year old age range. Each afternoon comprised games, drama based on a Bible story, craft activities, refreshments, computer games, and sometimes a video or DVD. For 2007, the title of the four sessions was ‘The God Food Guide’ – each Bible story was about food. For further details of any of these sessions, or those in previous years (2006 – ‘Heroes and Villains’; 2005 – ‘ Stormy Seas ’), please contact Rosemary Webb (01684 565708, rosemary@littleurchins.org.uk).

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GOD AT WORK CHANGING LIVES

At a recent meeting at Malvern Link URC with the Moderator and other members of Synod they were asked to send in encouraging stories of God changing lives amongst us.  Please see the encouraging story of Mrs Christabell P Wilson from Malvern Link URC.

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