Attack of the Birds!

(a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

It's not really giving anything away to reveal that the film The Birds concerns birds run amuck. Of his 1963 movie masterpiece, director Alfred Hitchcock said, "It could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made!" Even though it looks a bit dated now, especially in the area of special effects, the terror of unexplained bird attacks comes through undiminished! 

The film’s source material is less widely known. Evan Hunter (known to many as Ed McBain, the author of more than 60 police procedural novels set in the fictional 87th Precinct) wrote the screenplay. He was asked to base it on the 1952 novelette by Daphne Du Maurier. 

Even less well known is that Hitchcock lived near an actual event of unexplained bird attacks that took place on the California coast in 1961. Equally as weird is that such events occurred at least two more times along the California coast in subsequent years, triggering serious scientific investigation into the phenomena. Some later instances of aggressive avian behavior were discovered to be due to the birds ingesting poisonous algae.

In the Bible, we have no such instances. In fact, birds have other, less threatening roles in scripture.  

Witness the humble sparrow. People purchased sparrows to use as sacrifices in the Temple. When Jesus referenced them during His ministry, He pointed out that His audience could buy "two for a penny" and "five for two pennies." The Law of Supply and Demand would suggest that, at that price, they must have been very common indeed. In this week's scriptures, sparrows and swallows stand in for the common and most humble among us. 

Psalm 84 declares that at God’s altar, even the sparrow finds a home, that the swallow builds a nest “where she may lay her young.” The point: Everyone, even the lowliest, even those marked for sacrifice, are welcome to rest in God’s house.

In the Luke passage, Jesus clarifies: The humble (like the despised tax collector) are far more welcome in God's house than those (like the Pharisee) who are pleased with their own moral performance and look down on other people.

Perhaps you haven’t lived a life filled with excitement and rewards. Perhaps you aren’t the model of moral perfection. Maybe quite the opposite. If you find yourself feeling like an imposter, feeling that your own complement of shortcomings may overwhelm you, and that you can only cry to God for mercy, know that God welcomes you as He does the sparrow. 

Come and rest. There is always a place for you at God’s altar.

_______________________

Join us for food and fellowship on Friday mornings at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet on Zoom* and in person at Our Breakfast Place. All are welcome.

And, should there be, you know, some kind of unexplained bird attack, well, at least we're inside… 

Blessings,

Steve

*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK 

Find them here

Print them here:

Joel 2:23-32

Psalm 65

Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22

Psalm 84:1-7

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

Luke 18:9-14

Proper 25 (30) (October 26, 2025)

_________________________