For the birds of the air – 18 June 2018

Here is a carefully made piece of American folk art (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1800-1820). It was made at home, and is about home. In this small tree are perched many tiny birds. Each one is different. Each one sits peacefully. As we look at this, the intention is that we feel happy and hopeful.

In the parable of the mustard seed, which describes what the Kingdom of God is like, Jesus says that when the seed grows it becomes a shrub, a place where ‘the birds of the air can make nests in its shade’. We know that birds are easy to frighten away. If they feel unsafe they will be gone. This small wooden tree depicts a place of safety, where little birds can make their home. It is an image of the Kingdom.

A German settler, a farmer most likely, made this carving in Pennsylvania, taking inspiration from the natural world. Decorative wooden items such as this one were found in most homes. They were often gifts given in courtship, or tokens of affection and esteem. They might be given to mark the birth of a child or at the coming of spring. This carving, an image of a community safe and at peace, would have provided reassurance. In the Pennsylvania German community birds were symbols of rebirth and renewal.

Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Mark 4:31-33

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickinson

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, you heavens;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, all birds of the air;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, all people on earth;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.

Daniel 3:57-58, 80, 82