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Bird Brains                        Matthew 6: 24-34      May 25, 2008

As many of you may have probably concluded, having noticed the rather large array of bird feeders and baffling devices that hang from the tree or rise up from the ground next door in our backyard, Kris and I both enjoy bird watching. Kris is actually more intentional than I am about the process. She spends quite a bit of time and energy attracting beautiful songbirds and trying to foil the advances of less welcome interlopers such as blackbirds and squirrels - especially squirrels - and she is much more expert than I on just which kind of seed attracts which particular type of bird.

And birds are interesting creatures to be sure. Their many and varied colors and sizes and shapes, as well as their unique songs and habits, have made them the objects of human fascination for centuries. We know people who spend their vacations bird watching. And others who have life lists of birds they have spotted and identified. But for all that is impressive about birds, most people would agree: "Brainy" they are not. Or so the conventional wisdom would suggest.

Think of the animal references we use to describe human traits. Most are positive. "Works like a dog." "Quick as a bunny." That was my mother's favorite. Even "Quiet as a mouse" is not exactly all bad. But calling someone "Bird Brain" is most definitely not paying him or her a compliment.

There has been some new scientific research, however, that is about to change that unflattering perception about our feathered friends. The old consensus among avian experts was that most of the matter in a bird's brain was essentially filler. That their heads were full of stuffing. Now, neuroscientists are finding that their earlier perceptions were wrong and that 75% or more of a bird's brain is in fact wired in such a way as to make it possible for them to do all kinds of complex things like solving mathematical puzzles and even using language. Their brains are more like ours than we had previously thought.

Actually, that explains a lot. Anyone who has ever taken out a picnic lunch while sitting on the beach will agree, I think, that seagulls talk to one another. How else would a hundred of them know, in a matter of seconds, that you have an open bag of corn chips sitting unprotected on your beach blanket?

For centuries, birds have probably been offended by our dismissive attitude. "Who do they think they are, referring to stupid people as "bird brains," they have most likely been saying to themselves. "They're the ones who separate themselves from God. They're the ones who mess up the planet we both live on. They're the ones who can't seem to live together without fighting. They're the ones who manage to turn their backs on their brothers and sisters who are hungry. And they are the ones who waste their time worrying. And then these humans have the nerve to think that their brains are superior to ours."

In our text this morning from Matthew's Gospel - a portion of 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," he says, "and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."

Jesus suggests that we look to the birds as role models! He must have thought they were pretty smart, don't you think?

I wonder what Jesus' message would be like if he were preaching to the birds that day?

Perhaps it would be something like this: "Look at the men and women of the earth," he might have said, "the ones wringing their hands, losing sleep and ingesting all manner of things to try to stave off their anxieties. Don't they know that our Father in heaven is in charge? Don't they know that none of their worry and apprehension will do them anything but harm?

They spend all their energy and effort accumulating things that give them a small measure of pleasure today. Not only do they gather into barns, they build new barns when the ones that they have are filled.

Don't they know that God knows what they need? Don't they know that God will provide for them as God has always provided for you? Perhaps if you keep doing what God created you to do; keep flying, keep soaring overhead, continue visiting their backyards; perhaps they will see you and know that the God who meets your needs will also feed them. Perhaps then they will learn to be what God created them to be."

The scriptures are filled with examples of God's incredible, inexhaustible generosity - to humankind and to all of creation.

The Psalmist captures it beautifully in Psalm 104: "O Lord," the Psalmist writes, "You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken. You cover it with the deep as with a garment. From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth."

"O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. They look to you to give them their food in due season; When you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things."

Yet, in spite of this message, that we have heard again and again, you and I act as if we were on our own. We act as if we are not parties to God's dream for humankind. When in fact we are at the center of it.

I was out of town this past week, as many of you know, and while I was in Minneapolis I rented a car from Budget Rent a Car - a little white Chevrolet. It had one of those OnStar buttons on the dashboard.

I've never owned a car equipped with OnStar, but if the ads they run on the radio are any indication, it's a pretty nifty feature. OnStar knows where you are and comes to the rescue when you're in trouble. A friendly OnStar "advisor," as they are called, will direct you when you're lost, bail you out when you do something stupid like lock your keys in the car, and, most important of all, he or she will comfort you and send help if you crash.

Picture yourself driving, all alone, on a dark, unfamiliar road when suddenly, distracted by a deer, you lose control and drive off the road and into a ditch. Knowing that someone would respond in an instant and come to your aid will be a real comfort, I would think.

Every one of us needs to know that we are not alone. Even when it feels like we are.

Well, with apologies to General Motors, we, as people of God, have something much better than OnStar. When we find ourselves suddenly off the road we thought we were traveling, hanging by our seatbelts, upside down and disoriented, "God," the prophet Isaiah reminds us, "answers even before we call. God hears us even before we speak."

This incredible, never-ending generosity of our God is beautifully expressed an old Gospel Song. I think you may know it. . .

       Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
       Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
       When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
       His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
       His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

       I sing because I'm happy,
       I sing because I'm free,
       For His eye is on the sparrow,
       And I know He watches me.

       "Let not your heart be troubled," His tender word I hear,
       And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
       Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
       His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
       His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

       I sing because I'm happy,
       I sing because I'm free,
       For His eye is on the sparrow,
       And I know He watches me.

If God's eye is on the sparrow, and the finch, and the cardinal and the hawk and the eagle and the woodpecker, shouldn't ours be as well?

"Look at the birds of the air," Jesus said. "Look at the birds of the air." And know, from your looking, that God's incredible generosity extends beyond the birds, to all of us who are open to receiving it.

                                                                             AMEN

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