That One Bird
Text: John 2:13-22
When no one listens …
When no one listens
To the quiet trees
When no on notices
The sun in the pool
Where no one feels
The first drop of rain
Or sees the last star
Or hail the first morning
Of a giant world
Where peace begins
And rages end:
One bird sits still
Watching the work of God:
One turning leaf,
Two falling blossoms,
Ten circles upon the pond.
Those are the words of a poem entitled “Stranger” by Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, mystic, poet and social activist.
Merton’s poem invites us to look more deeply into God’s creation, to listen, to notice – every creature, every human being, every plant, and tree. God continues to manifest through the whole creation, whether we recognize it or not. The poem shows us the promise that we can be that one bird who sits still and watches the work of God.
Our Christian faith speaks of Jesus as the bird who knew the work of God. John’s gospel begins with such a bold statement: “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen the glory, full of grace and truth!” (John 1:14) Unlike the gospels of Luke and Matthew, for John the focus is not the birth of Jesus 2000 years ago. John focuses on what has been revealed because of the incarnation. John’s gospel doesn’t fail to include the whole creation as the continuing incarnation of God. “All things came into being through God, and without God not one thing came into being.” (John 1:3)
Traditionally, however, the church has failed to see what Jesus saw by drawing the line between what’s sacred and what’s mundane, what’s spiritual and what’s material, and human and nature. It is like mistaking the finger for the moon. Jesus pointed his finger at the truth that will set us free, but we have spent a lot of time looking at the finger instead. The God of Jesus knows no limit; the love of God, revealed in the life of Jesus, is ever evolving, creating, and showing through everything in the universe, including you and me.
I believe in the cosmic Christ who is as close to me as my skin, and whose life span is as old as the 14.5 billion years old universe. I also believe that this cosmic Christ can wake us all, especially Christians to give glory to God by loving the whole creation.
Yet, our beloved creation, the earth, our common home is in danger. The choices the humanity makes over the next few years will determine the peril and possibility to which we and our children as well as all future generations will be subjected.
If Jesus’ overturning tables - cleansing of the temple - happens today, it would look a lot like Gretta Thunberg’s speech in Davos. She addressed the richest and the most powerful people in the world, “Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour, and we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.” Jesus would overturn our lifestyles based on individualism and consumerism, and overturn the government policy on every level so we can rescue the planet from being consumed; we can protect all the species facing extinction, as well as the people whose lives are being impacted by the climate change.
As many people around the world who have struggled against oppression in any forms have taught us, despair is a luxury. Hope has nothing to do with optimism. Hope has nothing to do with outcome. Hope does have to do with engaging the next God-given moment we receive and engaging with our full beings on behalf of current and future generations. We can be, and we must be the one bird who watches the work of God and gladly participate in it.