Feed the Birds!

Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Luke 12:24 (NIV).

I was inspired after our Messy Church Goes Wild session, ‘Wild on the Wing’, to dig into the Messy Church value of ‘hospitality’ and see if I could welcome more birds into my suburban London garden.

I bought some wild-bird seed, filled up my bird feeder, positioned it outside the kitchen-window, and waited to see what type of birds would visit. For the first two days, I watched a courting pair of robins take turns at the feeder, followed by blue-tits, great-tits and a group of cheerful sparrows. To add to my delight, I even spotted a tiny wren pop out of the hedge and enjoy a brief meal. Watching these delicate small birds, admiring their colourful and varied plumage, became my new sport. I even found myself lingering over the washing-up, so I could enjoy the scene and know that I was part of God’s plan, caring for these tiny, vulnerable creatures during a season when there is little else in the garden for them to eat.

However, on the third day, the small birds suddenly dispersed as a large pigeon settled on top of the bird feeder, eyeing up the goods. After a couple of failed attempts to land on the perch, it flew off. Internally I felt victorious – this bird feeder was designed for small birds, after all, and was clearly unsuitable for bigger birds, who must be perfectly capable of finding food elsewhere. I was wrong! Minutes later the pigeon returned with not just one friend, but a ‘gang’ of hungry pigeons. Initially I chased them off, but as soon as I was back in the house, the gang was back. My dog had various attempts at chasing them off too, but very quickly they realised she couldn’t fly, so sat on the fence, waiting for us to retreat.

In the end, I gave up ‘shooing’ them away and decided to see if they could access my small-bird feeder, as ravens as well as sparrows, are equally used in the Bible to explain God’s care of creation and provision for us. With a degree of experimentation, one innovative pigeon managed to perch on the edge of the feeder and with much flapping of wings, seeds started to cascade out, as the feeder shook from side to side. It was manna from heaven for the rest of the gang, who quickly hoovered up the feast at ground level. My feeder was emptied within an hour.

I was quite impressed with these bigger birds, who still needed feeding as much as the small birds. Even though the apparatus wasn’t quite designed for them, with some ingenuity and adaptation, and working as a team, they got their fill. I was managing to feed birds that I hadn’t expected to feed, although it was clear that I’d be getting through a lot more bird seed than I had imagined. As a result, I have adopted a new practice of daily birdseed rationing.

This experience made me wonder about our hospitality at Messy Church. We might have fixed in our minds the type of people we expect to come – perhaps families with small children. But what do we do when the three autistic brothers walk through the door with their frazzled single parent, or even a gang of boisterous teenagers show-up and interact with the activities in ways we did not imagine?