I was grateful to bump into a meaningful reflection "Not One Sparrow" by pastor Robin McMillan of MorningStar Fellowship in Fort Mill, South Carolina. He mentions on his blog Waking Up coming across a small bird alongside the road one morning, and wondering how he had died. He was reminded of the passage close to not one sparrow's heart, Luke 12:6-7, and it's close parallel in Matthew 10:29-31:
I've been wanting to introduce Lauren Merritt to our blog for some time now. Lauren is the author behind the very compelling and theologically rich blog The Christian and Creation ~ Glorifying the Creator. She's also a relatively recent wife and mother, and just began her masters of divinity in apologetics and worldview at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her post, "Like a Child," is a perfect epilogue to our series on wild birds:
Perhaps you remember our first post on Spoggy the sparrow? It pointed to how Spoggy was rescued as an orphaned hatchling by Susan and David in Tasmania, Australia, and adopted for life when it became clear he had found his surrogate parents, and home.
I happily connected with Spoggy's 'mum,' as Susan affectionately calls herself, soon after putting the post up, and she's since kept me updated on Spoggy's development and doings through many beautiful videos and photos. I wanted to be sure to pass along a few, especially as Spoggy seems to be the perfect unofficial 'mascot' for not one sparrow!
Before we wrap up our series on wild birds with one last post on our unofficial mascot Spoggy the sparrow, I'd be remiss not to pass along one of the most wide-ranging and engrossing resources I've come across on the subject. I'll be forever grateful to my cousin Ben Aldridge for exposing me to The Life of Birds, a BBC television series narrated by the always engaging David Attenborough.
The series is made up of ten 50-minute episodes (which you can watch for free on YouTube), each of which examines primarily wild birds by a different theme: the mystery of flight, diets, communication, mating and birthing, and more. The range of birds portrayed in terms of location, size, coloring and personality is staggering, and infinitely captivating.
request for help... Every effort has been made to avoid leading with this request so far, and we're always grateful for your encouragement and word of mouth, but not one sparrow urgently needs your financial support as well. Keeping in touch with community members, posting new content to the website and blog, networking with other efforts, developing other outreach opportunities and administrative responsibilities all require a substantial amount of time and energy far beyond volunteer hours.
This is a beautifully written and poignantly made case for making a special effort to pay attention to the birds which seem to, sometimes elusively and often eclectically, cohabit our immediate world. I'm very grateful to Kendra Langdon Juskus, managing editor for creation care group Flourish and their excellent blog, for sharing "Confessions of a Reluctant Birder":
We step out of the blustery openness of the main path, leaving its wide curve through the prairie and entering a quiet grove of willows. There’s a pool of water here in late spring, and a heron rookery that fills the tops of the willows with precariously perched nests and the awkward flight of gawky birds. But now it’s October, and the ground beneath our feet is dry. Thin willow leaves dart through autumnal sunlight on their way to the floor of dry grasses below.
I wrote in my personal story about how I gradually became so attached to animals and their cause, that aside from personal exposure to God's creatures, I was motivated by other glimpses of animal personality and the human-animal connection which I saw on screen in animal films and video clips. And, without a doubt, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill left one of the most lasting impressions on me.
Following is a short review I wrote not long after I saw the moving documentary for the first time, about a year before I decided to give not one sparrow a go. But, more than anything, I hope you can catch the film yourself (trailer below). My sincere hunch is you'll be glad you did ...
Yet another captivating video short from Ray Paunovich shot in southwest Montana, and a perfect supplement to our series on wild birds: "Life on the Wing" ...
We featured the exceptional animal-themed art of Tracey Clarke last Spring, and I've appreciated following Tracey's very thoughtful reflections on her blog The Helium Burden since. I happened across a post of her's which adds an important dimension to our series on wild birds and their place in our world, often our own backyard. "The Pressure Washers Meant it for Evil but God Meant it for Good" includes a moral for us as well, in the tradition of many New Testament references to domestic birds (and much like Dean Ohlman's recent post on the chickadees):
Continuing the theme of paying some overdue attention to the actual "sparrows" and their cousins which inhabit our world, Dean Ohlman has another excellent post in which his favorite domestic bird, the little chickadee, provides a poignant reminder of not one sparrow's cornerstone verse: "Of Chickadees and Wall Street" ...
February 26, 2010