How Can You People Sleep?

It has started again. This time of year it doesn’t matter if I set my alarm or not as I am awake at the crack of dawn, quite literally. My body knows that the sun is about to rise and agrees that it is time to rise to greet the day. This happens even if the window is closed, keeping me from experiencing the world waking up. If the window is open allowing me to hear bird song then it is game over, my brain will instantly start working to identify the birds and my body prepares for the chase. I just can’t comprehend how other people can sleep through this. More than that, I can’t begin to understand how listening to nature sounds is a way to aid calming down to fall asleep. The exact opposite is that case. Nature sounds are just begging to be identified thus activating, not deactivating the brain.

What? That’s not the case for you? I do get it, we are not all wired the same, and, yes, I am a bird-brain. But isn’t that an important lesson? It is natural to start with the familiar and known when trying to make sense of the world. Unfortunately, it is too easy to start with ourselves and project expectations on others based solely on our limited experience of life.  When people differ from us in thought or behavior it is a challenge. Understanding other perspectives takes work; work that we might not choose to commit our energy toward. Doing that work begins with a belief that the outcome will be worthwhile. I certainly hope that you believe that understanding others is a worthwhile goal, even if it doesn’t result in some discernible personal gain. I contend that simply gaining new knowledge based on the perspective and insight of others is a reward in itself.

That certainly is the case with my pursuit of birds. You may not be able to relate in any way to the insanity I engage in to find rarities or in racking up numbers of species. You may not be able to relate even to desire to do it. But you can appreciate that for me this is a pursuit that fills me with satisfaction and somehow helps me fulfill my purpose.  And the metaphor of chasing birds can also be instructive. When I give in to the desire to explore I begin with an idea about what I will find, but there is no bird trip that doesn’t include both surprise and disappointment. The not knowing is motivation enough. So even if birds aren’t your thing, there is a world of people and ideas out there to explore. How can you people sleep?

G.I.S.S.: Noticing the Big Picture

During  World War 2, the British soldiers arming the anti-aircraft guns had a dilemma. They had to be able to distinguish German planes from British plans quickly, and needless to say, accurately. So they developed a system called GISS, which stands for General Impression, Size and Shape. Not surprisingly, the planes from the different sides were built differently and since bombers and fighters serve different purposes, they looked different. At first glance they may seem similar, but if you trained your first glance to be discriminating you could tell the differences with just a glance. 

Bird watchers employ the same skill set, particularly in relation to soaring birds. Hawk watchers know to look at the wings of soaring birds to tell them apart. If the silhouette of the soaring bird involves long wings with spread feathers at the tip, then, in this area, it is either a vulture or an eagle. The most common vulture here is the Turkey Vulture. It gives itself away by soaring with its wings in slightly upturned position called a dihedral. No other bird soars this way, so the dihedral is diagnostic.

One problem with soaring birds is the difficulty of determining the size of the bird. With nothing but sky, it is impossible to know how far away a bird is, leaving no way to determine the relative size. But the proportion of the parts of the bird will always remain constant within a species. Thus when a hawk is seen soaring, the length and shape of the wings and the tail relative to the overall size of the bird is sufficient to identify at least the family of the bird. Buteos, like Red-tailed  and Red-shouldered Hawks, have rounded, broad wings and short tails. Accipiters, like Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, have long rounded wings and long tails. If you see a hawk-like bird with pointed wings, think falcon.

This sort of quick sorting based on first impressions is a practice that helps a person take in the big picture. Rather than going first to the particulars that make a bird unique and trying to identify from details, it is an easier and superior practice to start with the big picture and test assumptions from that perspective as you narrow the identification from the general down to the specific.

Too often, the temptation is to do this backwards, to go from the specific to the general, sometimes attempting to make all the pieces fit to make the identification we want to see. In church circles this is called proof-texting. It is tempting once one holds a doctrine that feels comfortable to find all the various verses in the Bible that appear to support that position. I say “appear to support” because sometimes they have to be taken out of context. Consider how John 3:16 is so often used to threaten condemnation if one doesn't believe correctly. Instead of seeing the love of God that begins the verse, some folks would rather emphasize the “whomever shall believe” meaning that it is not everyone, so you better start believing in Jesus if you want to be saved. But if you were to take a General Impression, Size and Shape approach to the verse and look at it in context, you would see that the very next verse makes it clear that Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it! In fact, taken together these verse are a good beginning for a case for universal salvation.

Unfortunately, this sort of cherry-picking seems to have become an epidemic in recent years. Take climate change as an example. The overwhelming weight of scientific findings show that the earth is warming and with that will come drastic climatic changes that could have dire impact on all of us. But the recent political debate on the issue in our country has those who oppose regulations proposed to slow the increase in greenhouse gases denying the science instead of debating policy. The tactic is to find one or two scientific reports that raise doubts about climate change and claim that that debunks it. This sort of argument is like saying that there is no hunger in the world because some of us have more food than we can eat. Pulling back to see the big picture is vital when we have become so lost in details that we can no longer imagine any other possibilities.

Consider the story of the Flood. How do we hear that story? Is it a story about God punishing the world or saving the world? A bit of important information to consider before you answer is that this was not the only story of a devastating global flood being told at the time. Remember that in Mesopotamia flooding was common. In fact, flooding was what made the Fertile Crescent so fertile. Any particularly large flood would be devastating to all that the local people knew to exist and would seem quite literally like the end of the world. It would be natural to tell stories in order to remember the events and to make sense of them. All of these tales involved an element of judgment, but the one that the Hebrew people told also contained a promise and an element of hope. Think about it for a minute, is the moral of the story usually at the beginning or the end? This story may begin with the judgment of God, but it ends in covenant. The dove and the rainbow remain today as powerful images of peace exactly because this story ends with a covenant between God and all of creation which encourages the people to believe that even if we don't always deserve it, God is committed to blessing us.

Granted, natural disasters continue to occur, and it doesn't help that we refer to them as “acts of God.” So it is tempting to fall into the trap of believing that God is still in the punishment business. But we know that in natural disasters the innocent suffer. Don't you think that if God were to send judgment that God would be more capable of punishing those who really deserve it? No, the GISS of God is the covenant of blessing, not the enforcement of consequences for broken contracts.

But what if God is attempting to get our attention through nature? We certainly sense that when we behold the wonder of the natural world with awe. Could it be that even in natural disasters God is speaking? Consider what our response is to disaster. When our fellow human beings suffer, we feel it and we respond as we are able. Disasters bring out our compassion. Isn't that at the heart of the story of the rainbow covenant? In the wake of disaster we share the heart of God in caring for those who suffer and desiring to restore peace and well-being. Perhaps God does speak to us even in the suffering of creation, calling us to compassion. And in our day when we see the very earth itself suffering, is not God shouting?

When I started considering using GISS as metaphor for this message, the fact that it could also stand for the words of the United Church of Christ advertising campaign, God is still speaking was not lost on me. When we step back to discern the big picture of what God is about the one thing that we should clearly discern is that God is not absent. The big picture story about the nature of God is that God is very much involved in the human story. The God of creation, who is responsible for this ever expanding universe and all of its magnificent marvel, this God who is present even at the most distant star, is also intimately concerned with every facet, every nook and cranny of it all. God is as close as the next breath that you take. That is the General Impression, Size and Shape of this God who is very much still speaking.

Original Blessing: Noticing Behavior

One morning before getting out of bed, my wife, who was looking out the window, asked me "Is that a creeper or a nuthatch?" She started to describe the color markings of the bird, but I responded with a question that I hoped would make the identification simple, "What is it doing?" I asked. Unfortunately, the answer was "going up the tree," which didn't limit the options. Had the bird been going head first down the tree, it could only have been a nuthatch. Although the practice is typically called bird watching, a lot of bird identification involves more than visual cues. As in this case, the bird's behavior can help in determining what species it is.

Using behavior in decision making is a good principle to apply to other areas of life as well. Regarding the judgment of others, the Bible reminds us that "by their fruits you will know them." Or in secular terms, the corollary of "don't judge a book by its cover" is good advice regarding the importance of taking note of behavior. We must also be careful when observing behavior not to be too quick to pass judgment even then.

You have probably seen Canada Geese flying in their common V formation. Flying this way puts the burden on the leader while reducing the drag experienced by the other geese in the formation by nearly three quarters! But have you ever watched long enough to see that the geese change leaders? This is a fine lesson is leadership and teamwork taught to us by nature. If you have watched spent time observing this behavior, you will also know that it is often accompanied by a lot of honking. If you or I were driving in traffic doing that much honking our intention would be pretty clear, and it would be far from positive. But how likely is it that the geese the rear are complaining about the goose in the lead? It is much more likely that they are honking as a form of gratitude and encouragement: another lesson from nature, this time about the risk of a rush to judgment.
Or consider a common behavior of crows, mobbing. Perhaps you have seen it. Often it starts with a single crow cawing loudly and repeatedly while swooping down on a perched bird. Sometimes it is hard to see the bird being mobbed. Soon other crows join in the fray. Eventually the bird being mobbed flies off the perch. The curious way that this behavior aids in identification is that if the mobbed bird flies out into open space then it is likely a Red-tailed Hawk. If the bird drops down and into the woods then it is more like a Great Horned Owl. Sure, it could be other species but these are the ones that typically are mobbed by crows, other birds of prey are more typically mobbed by other species, Blue Jays mobbing Barred Owls, for example. The purpose of mobbing is to drive out the predator who is likely to target the young on the nests of the mobbing birds.  There is irony in the crows’ behavior since they are sometimes the mobber and sometimes the mobbee as they are known to rob the nests of smaller birds. What goes around comes around.
Once again, we are on shaky ground should be try to pass judgment. Is the crow the hero for protecting its young or villain for preventing the hawk or owl from feeding their young?  Regardless of opinion, they are all just doing what they are hard-wired to do. They are doing what is in their nature.  Is that nature good or evil? It is complicated, isn’t it? And what about human nature?  It is good or evil? Is our behavior pre-determined and hard wired? How free is free will? It is complicated, isn’t it? So perhaps we should see what the Bible says.

Most of us probably believe that Bible teaches that we are born as sinners, born with what has been called original sin. That doctrine was first expressed by Augustine in the Fourth Century. So what did Christians believe for the more than 300 years before that insight? Likely they were not of one mind.

If you read the story of the Fall, in the third chapter of Genesis, as prescriptive then there is little hope for human nature, and God is in the cursing business because of what our ancestors did. We start the race with a handicap, leaving no hope unless this cursing God chooses to forgive and bless. But if you the story as descriptive then we can see the predicament without judgment: we are curious by nature, hardwired to seek knowledge, ethical decision-making is in our DNA. What is God to do with creatures like this? It is complicated isn't it?

Jesus wants us to understand that this loving God is, always has been, and always will be in the blessing business. Picture the scene where people fretting over the concerns of life have gathered around Jesus. They are feeling that God not only is not coming to intervene but is the very cause of the problems! Then a bird flies by and Jesus says, "Look! See that bird? Does it look worried? Does it look insignificant to you?" Then he pauses, and people start wondering. They think, "Why yes, I suppose it is worried, why shouldn't it be? And well yes, it is just a tiny insignificant bird lost in the flock of so many more. It is hardly worth my attention." But Jesus turns the story upside down telling them that that bird is carefree in the care of God. God not only notices, but God cares, and God provides. And guess what, God is not so busy caring about the little things that God would overlook the big thing that is you!

God is not in the cursing business. God is in the business of paying attention, showing up, providing, and caring. Perhaps it is high time that we stop limiting our knowledge by accepting a theology of original sin, instead learning the eternal story from the birds of the air and the flowers of the field that every little thing is going to be all right because of God's original blessing.

Lunatics & Liars: The Power of Story

In the sixth century on the isle of Iona off the coast of Scotland, a man named Columba founded an abbey, bringing Christianity to the Celtic world. Celtic spirituality has gifted the world with many things, among them being a new name for the Holy Spirit: An Geadh Fiadhaich. Rather than the familiar avian image of the dove, they preferred the Wild Goose. It is not that they didn't know about doves. In fact, Columba literally means dove. No, the image of the goose was preferred because of the wildness of geese. They are free and unfettered. Geese are loud and bold. They do pretty much what they want and are difficult to capture, contain, and tame. They will bite those who try to keep them. Conjuring up images of the untamed and untamable nature of God inspired these Christians to pursue God as one might pursue a goose, on a wild goose chase if you will. This sort of inspiration will land you in places where you may not choose to go yourself and very well may inspire you to feats you may not at first believe are possible.

• The bird will still be there when I can chase it.

• I'll just scan this flock one more time, maybe there is a rarity.

• The bird will show up if I just wait another 15 minutes...half hour...hour... 

You don’t have to be a fan of Doctor Who to appreciate an example from a recent episode in which the Doctor was inspired to an incredible act of perseverance (think billions of years) by a story. Similar to a video game where you have unlimited lives to complete a level but have to start over every time you don’t complete it, that was the Doctor’s predicament. But since he knew he would pass the same way again (and again, and again) he left himself a word of encouragement, literally. That one word was “bird.” The reason for that word was a Brothers Grimm story about a king who asks questions of a wise shepherd boy. It goes like this:

"’How many seconds in eternity?’ The Shepherd Boy says, ‘There is a mountain of pure diamond, it takes an hour to climb it, and an hour to go around it. Every hundred years, a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on the diamond mountain. And when the entire mountain is chiseled away, the first second of eternity will have passed!’"  The Doctor then adds, “You must think that's a helluva long time. Personally? I think that's a helluva bird!” How you hear a story is vital - is the length of eternity a curse or a gift?

Birders tell themselves stories all the time

But an important lesson to learn is not to draw conclusions based solely on wishes. A few years ago at the end of the Super Bowl of Birding (yeah, that's a thing) I had a conversation with another birder that confirmed for me how important it is to be both a dreamer and a skeptic. Earlier in day, my team, the Wicked Pishahs (a totally "inside baseball” pun that works with New England birders) had been at the fish pier in Gloucester where we saw some Thick-billed Murres. We had attempted with a large dose of hope to call them Common Murres, but spent a good deal of time examining them to confirm our identification. Before we left, we saw the Raven Lunatics (you can't make this stuff up) pull in, so we said a friendly hello to the competition, but naturally didn't share the sighting with them. Over pizza, while waiting for the results to be announced, one of the Lunatics told me that we should have stuck around the pier because they found five dovekies there. One dovekie would be remarkable and five would be nearly unheard of, AND he described the precise location where we had just worked hard at identifying the Murres! I tried in the nicest way possible to tell him that his identification was incorrect (I'm not sure I succeeded on the nice part). It was easy to see why they made the call they did, their bird was worth the maximum number of points and also got them a bonus, while ours, while decent, was the lesser value of the two Murres.

Both teams were dreaming that day. Indeed, birders (particularly competitive birders) cannot not be dreamers. If we didn't tell ourselves stories about finding rare birds, or the first bird, or simply more birds, we would never find the motivation to find any birds. We dreamed that the Thick-billed Murres were Common Murres, but once we saw the birds, dreaming turned to skepticism so that we could be confident in our identification. The other team never switched over from dreaming, they didn't allow doubt to get in the way of the identification they wanted.

Too many believers consider doubt to be the opposite of faith, but in truth, faith requires a healthy dose of doubt to keep it useful. If we can't dream of a better day, that day will never dawn. On the other hand, if all we do is dream then we don't have the tools to deal with the hand we are dealt. The opposite of faith is certainty. Specifically, it is a type of certainty that doesn't allow doubt. It is the sort of thing that transforms doctrine into dogma and leads to litmus tests for the faithful and catechisms to keep believers in lock step. The gift of faith is the ability to find truth in the stories we believe, motivating us to always keep searching. The story you believe should provide motivation to go on the Wild Goose Chase, but the practice of being on the chase must also teach you to discern. Experience helps you to be an optimistic skeptic, hoping always for the best, but careful to test what you find to be sure it is right and good, and thus right and good for you.

The ancient Hebrews told a new story when they said Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad, “Hear O Israel, the LORD your God, the LORD is one.” Aside from Zoroastrians, no other belief system at that time told the story of a single deity, for everyone else there were multiple gods. Still, it is important to note that even the Hebrews didn't act on that belief like it was absolute truth, for if they had they would not have warred with other nations by claiming that YHWH was stronger than their god, since if there is truly only one god, then Baal, Asherah,  Ra,  Zeus, or Jupiter could not exist. Jesus understood this and made it exceedingly clear when he interpreted the great law as being equivalent to loving your neighbor as yourself. For, you see, if your neighbor is worshiping any god, your neighbor is worshiping the one true god, i.e. the one you worship. And in case you missed the point, Jesus made it clear that this also applies to your enemies.

Loving God with your whole heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself  is not a competition (though if it must be then outdo each other in showing love). It is a command, therefore it should become a practice. If you commit to the practice of loving God with your whole heart, soul, and mind, not only will your behavior change, but your very being will change. That is the power of telling yourself a really good story. If you are going to chase the Spirit of God, it will be like a wild goose chase in that it will take you to places where you might not go yourself. And when you find yourself in this new territory, you will find not only that new actions are required, but you should also find yourself transformed.