What is the date? January 21st 2015? Wow where has the time gone? I have actually been here at St John’s for over a month. While I have been posting on our Facebook page I was informed that not everyone has Facebook so they have not had access to my posts. However, I’m told, people do check our web site. So I thought I had better make sure I can include as many people as possible.
An e-mail I received from a friend last week reminded me of the life of an eagle. In First Nations culture the eagle is a sacred bird. It flies highest and sees all. When it rains, most birds head for shelter; the eagle is the only bird, that in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the clouds. Another amazing tidbit about the eagle is its eye sight. The eagle can probably identify a rabbit moving almost a mile away. That means the eagle flying at an altitude of 1000 feet over open country could spot prey over an area of almost three square miles from a fixed position. No wonder God wants us to spread our wings and soar with eagles.
So what might this story of the eagles life have to teach us? If we look closely at nature it can teach us valuable lessons about life, death and resurrection.
The eagle has the longest life span among birds living up to seventy years however to reach this age, the eagle must make a hard decision. In its forty’s its long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food and its long and sharp beak becomes very bent. Its old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become stuck to its chest and make it difficult to fly. At this time the eagle is faced with two options: die or go through a painful process of change which lasts one hundred and fifty days!
This process requires the eagle to fly to a mountain top and sit on its nest. There on that mountain top the process begins with the eagle knocking its beak against the rocks until it actually knocks it right off. After its beak being knocked off, the eagle will wait for its new beak to grow back and then it will use its new beak to pluck out its talons. Then when its new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its old-aged feathers out. After about five months, the eagle with its new beak, talons and feathers, takes its famous flight of rebirth and lives for another thirty years.
Why is change needed? Many times on our journey’s, in order to survive we have to start a change process…We sometimes have to get rid of old memories, habits and other past traditions that no longer work for us. Only freed from our past burdens, can we take advantage of the present and all its new possibilities.
At St. John’s I am so looking forward to journeying with all of you on this new adventure. I am looking forward to meeting those of you who I haven’t met and reconnecting with those I haven’t seen in many years. Our annual Vestry meeting is scheduled for Feb 8, 2015 I hope to see you there. May God continue to bless us as we strive to be the hands, feet, eyes, ears and heart of God in our community and beyond. What does the Lord require of us but to act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. (Micah 6:8) Blessings Canon Val
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