The Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.
St Chad’s June 30 2013. Luke: 9-51-end.
When we moved to our house in Donisthorpe nearly 30 years ago it ticked all the boxes as they say these days. The house stood on the corner of 200 acres of intensively farmed field, it had a wonderful view over that field to a copse, where there was a rabbit warren, badger sett and fox holes, there was a disused industrial quarry with its associated concrete structures nearby and it was just a short walk to the village where the colliery was still in production, and there was a shop, post office and church.
Yet there were no birds.
All this countryside and yet birds were as scarce as hen’s teeth. So we set about planting shrubs which would offer birds opportunities to nest, to roost in the branches and to feed as well as to make them feel welcome. Birds began to return, aided by the neighbouring farmer who bred pheasants. He would release young birds into the wild, then ensured their continued growth by putting out feeders which were replenished regularly. The wild birds quickly sourced the feeders and fed on seeds and pellets which helped them to survive just as much as the pheasants. Later when we bought an acre of land we were able to encourage the survival of the sky larks by letting grass grow on earth that had previously been intensively farmed. It was with great pleasure that I saw a sky lark rise from the garden and trill its wonderful song a couple of years after we had helped the acquired land revert back to nature. Now a days we have seen the rise and fall of sparrows, from hearing the cuckoo regularly each spring, sadly it has not been heard there for the last six years, but the dawn chorus can be noisier than an alarm clock .
This year when taking part in the RSPB bird watch at the vicarage I was really upset when the “regulars” at the bird table were absent during the time I was recording them. But I was reassured when a friend taking part in the bird watch at Sheffield also experienced a similar absence of her regular visitors. It seems that more people are taking part in the bird watch and the birds suddenly have a surfeit of places to visit so they are not relying on just one person to feed them. Good for the birds, particularly if people who have taken up the bird watch continue to feed them.
I think God must be a bird lover for he created them and told human beings to care for them. Birds are often mentioned in the bible, and today’s gospel reading is no exception. ‘Foxes have holes, the birds have their nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’. The birds work hard at building nests; some birds build a number of nests before one is finally chosen to be the home for the brood. They live there while bringing up their family and feed them until they fledge.
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells us to “Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Jesus goes on to ask, “Are you not of more value than they?”
The birds can teach us so much. Birds gather what they need for food for their nestlings and are satisfied. They do not worry about building up enormous capital resources which are required of us in a materialistic society. Jesus also says ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father knowing……so do not be afraid you are of more value than many sparrows’.
He suggests that God cares for each individual bird among the billions that fly over the earth, so we should never doubt that God cares for us too.
Jesus was called to the life of a wandering preacher. He tells them “Foxes have holes, the birds have their nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” I wonder if that means he has an affinity with the homeless in today’s world. Think about the homeless. There are those who have been evicted because they cannot keep up their mortgage repayments, those who sleep in cardboard boxes on the city streets, young people who have been thrown out because they have difficulties relating to new people taking a father or mother’s role within the family.
In the wider world there are those in India who were made homeless by this week’s floods and there are those who are homeless because of war, and drought.
God told us to care for the birds, but he also urges us to care for our neighbours.
One way we can help those in our community who have hit hard times is by supporting the local Food Bank which operates out of Sutton Baptist Church and is supported by Churches Together. On the noticeboard there is a list of food items which are needed. Next week there will be a box at the back of the church where we can put our donations to the food bank. This is an on-going cause we can support. I hope you will feel you can offer the occasional item to the food bank.
Everyone needs a home; a place to lay their head. Some people need a bit of extra help when they hit a crisis and that help can often pull them out of the pits of despair.
AMEN
Rev’d Edwina Wallace.