SCRIPTURE TO PONDER

from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 10, verses 29&30

In this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches …

“For only a penny you can buy two sparrows,
yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have been counted.”

SONG: ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL (Voices United #291)

Refrain

Refrain

MY REFLECTION FOR THIS WEEK

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

“John” and “Lillian” were a young couple in one of the first congregations I served as a relatively new Minister back in Ontario. In those pre-computer years, Lillian was the one who took my scrawled handwritten notes each week and turned them into a nicely laid out bulletin for our Sunday Services. As was the custom then in rural communities like that one (maybe it still is – I hope so), my flock included not only those who attended the church but also their parents and grandparents, their children and grandchildren, and even, as you will see in a moment, their dogs and birds and various other furred and feathered friends. So it was, then, that I would include in my pastoral rounds John’s father and his second wife (though I am not sure they were ever officially married) who seldom if ever attended church Services.

Actually, it was really John’s step mom that I visited. John’s father was kind of a gruff old buzzard who would usually make himself scarce out in the barn or a shed somewhere if he knew I was coming. If we did happen to cross paths in my coming and going, the most I usually got from him was a brief grunt. His ‘missus’, on the other hand, was a lady: dressed for my visit, tea prepared and set out with the fine china, and – in her case – her rather mean-spirited little lap dog confined to the basement. Except on one occasion, the dog slipped out while I was still there, charged me, grabbed my pant cuff in its bared teeth, gave its little head a jerk, and ripped my pant leg up to my knee. I smiled, of course, and said something out loud that I did not fully agree with inside.

On another occasion, just as I was arriving, the resident cockatiel had taken advantage of an open window and made a flight for freedom into the great outdoors. I was immediately drafted into the rescue party, along with Lillian who happened to be visiting at the same time. Out we went, watching the bird fly from bush to bush, from yard to yard, from tree to tree, until it finally seemed to settle on a branch maybe twelve feet or so up a tree in the nearby churchyard (a very pious bird maybe?). I am not sure how it fell to me to take the next step – perhaps because I was younger then than I am now and maybe the youngest in the posse – but however I was chosen, it fell to me to climb that tree and bring the bird down. Somewhat surprisingly, the bird stayed perched on that branch as I made my way up – and remained still as I reached out with the hand that wasn’t clinging to my branch and took hold of the bird. One hand clutching that bird firmly enough that it couldn’t escape but gently enough to do it no harm, I used my other hand to help me back down safely to the ground. As I descended, though, the bird did what it could to continue to assert its independence which, in this case, meant ripping with its sharp beak whatever part of my hand it could get to. Blood streaming down my arm and dripping onto my head and my clothes, I made it to solid ground again and turned the bird over to its much relieved housemate (or jailor?).

Sometime later, on another visit that went much more smoothly, John’s father came up to me as I was returning to my car and thrust into my hand a bouquet of flowers he had just picked in his yard. “This is for your missus,” he said, then turned and walked away.

That last incident is the story I told when I officiated at John’s father’s funeral some months later. We might never know what experiences and secrets may have created a very hard shell around some people. But, to me, those flowers were a sign that deep down inside that man, and others we might come across in our lifetimes, there is a place where the capacity for gratitude and caring can still be generated, and where the basic goodness of humanity still resides.

For Further Reflection:

 I had a bit of fun with some of the smaller creatures in my reflection.
Take a moment to draw to mind one particular creature in your household or in the vast expanse of this wonderful planet and give thanks.

 Visualize one particular person whose exterior may be a bit prickly to deal with. What may have created that exterior?
How can you touch what is still inside in a way that is liberating without being invasive?

 Is there a snarly little dog down in your inner basement somewhere that needs tending to soften any rough exterior that may have built up around you?



What bird within you longs for an open window to fly for freedom?

SONG: “TAKE O TAKE ME AS I AM” (MV#85)

“Take, O take me as I am; summon out what I shall be;
set your seal upon my heart and live in me.”

BLESSING

From “Praying with the Earth”, J. Philip Newell, Novalis, 2011

Peace be ours.
The peace of the One be ours
that we may be one and many
that we may be bound and free
that we may be prisoners to love and fly like doves. Peace be ours.
The peace of the One be ours
that we may be one and many
that we may be bound and free
that we may be prisoners to love and fly.