You can barely see it but atop the light pole is a bird.
She was pearched singing a beautiful song.
It could be heard over the children rejoicing over school
letting out and the cars passing by.
I stood and listened to her sing for a while.
It was peaceful and, honestly, a nice break from the holiday
music heard on the radio in my car and in the coffee shop.
There was something pure about her song.
There was something
simple.
There was something that reminded me to stop and rejoice.
To rejoice that something beautiful is soon to happen.
To
rejoice in the good news that despite the longer nights, there is reason to
sing.
And that reason is Love.
Today I heard a bird sing for the first time in a long time.
Not because birds don’t sing in the winter but because I have not made time to
listen to them sing.
Imagine if we took time to ponder the profundity of that
which we are preparing for—the Incarnation.
God becoming flesh.
What does that mean? What does that look like now? Sure we
have the words but what does that mean for our lives, now?
Imagine if we spent more time embodying the words we
confess and affirm and less time…well…reciting them.
Imagine if we took a lesson from that bird singing. This
bird, high above me, was being a bird and doing what a bird is supposed to do—sing.
I am a human.
I bear the image of God.
I am a part of the
Body of Christ.
Why then am I so quick to compromise who I am for sake of
conformity and comfortablity?
Sing. Rejoice. God has come near. God is drawing near. God is
near.
Sing. Listen. Rejoice. Be.
Philippians 4.4-6
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,
Rejoice. 5Let your
gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not
worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Why do you
sing? Why don't we sing? What causes you to rejoice? What prevents us from singing?
Caged Bird
BY MAYA ANGELOU
A free bird leaps
on the back of the
wind
and floats
downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped
and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird
sings
with a fearful
trill
of things unknown
but longed for
still
and his tune is
heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another
breeze
and the trade winds soft through the
sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn
bright lawn
and he names the sky his own
But a caged bird stands on the grave
of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare
scream
his wings are clipped and his feet
are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird
sings
with a fearful
trill
of things unknown
but longed for
still
and his tune is
heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou, “Caged Bird” from Shaker, Why Don't
You Sing? Copyright © 1983 by Maya Angelou.
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