A LITURGY FOR BIRDWATCHING?

Posted: 03.05.26 in Articles category

 

I have recently come across a prayer of preparation from a text with an intriguing title, “A Liturgy for Birdwatching”, written by Chris Slaten and Doug McKelvey. The prayer itself is cited by Kevin Burrell at the start of his book, “Considering Sparrows”, and I think it’s worth quoting too. However, I am not writing strictly verbatim as I am taking the liberty of adapting it for a British readership:

Lord Jesus, use my practice of watching birds to refine my vision to see more fully as you see, to look hard for the unseen and unpraised, as you demonstrated so perfectly when you admired the widow’s secret sacrifice in the temple, or stooped and listened to the cries of suffering outcasts along the road, or looked up with love at the desperate tax thief perched in a tree.

Yet I know my own blindness extends well beyond birds. Let this practice therefore incline my heart to see better as you see, Lord… my neighbours, my fellow Christians and even, as I know I should, my enemies too.

Let this avocation of birdwatching become for me a training ground, tutoring my thoughts, my heart, my habits, to see more intently your love expressed in all the details of your creation, your world, your people.    

Amen.

As I write these words, I am again reminded of that instruction from Jesus to his followers “to look at the birds of the air” as recorded in Matthew 6 verse 26. Look attentively with full focus and deliberation at birds and learn as you do so about God’s love.