Not Your Birds - 9.11.22 Ann Hall

Creationtide II: Fauna Sunday Job 39:1-8, 26-30  1"Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?              Do you observe the calving of the deer? 2 Can you number the months that they fulfill,              and do you know the time when they give birth, 3 when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,              and are delivered of their young? 4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them.   "Who has let the wild ass go free?              Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass, 6 to which I have given the steppe for its home,              the salt land for its dwelling place? 7 It scorns the tumult of the city;              it does not hear the shouts of the driver. 8 It ranges the mountains as its pasture,              and it searches after every green thing.   "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,              and spreads its wings toward the south? 27          Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up              and makes its nest on high? 28          It lives on the rock and makes its home              in the fastness of the rocky crag. 29          From there it spies the prey;              its eyes see it from far away. 30          Its young ones suck up blood;              and where the slain are, there it is."     Psalm 104:14-23   You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,              and plants for people to use,    to bring forth food from the earth, 15                    and wine to gladden the human heart,    oil to make the face shine,              and bread to strengthen the human heart. 16          The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,              the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 17          In them the birds build their nests;              the stork has its home in the fir trees. 18          The high mountains are for the wild goats;              the rocks are a refuge for the coneys. 19          You have made the moon to mark the seasons;              the sun knows its time for setting. 20          You make darkness, and it is night,              when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. 21          The young lions roar for their prey,              seeking their food from God. 22          When the sun rises, they withdraw              and lie down in their dens. 23          People go out to their work              and to their labor until the evening.     1 Corinthians 1:10-23   Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. 11For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." 13Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,      "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,              and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."   20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?   21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Judeans demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Judeans and foolishness to Gentiles.     Luke 12:22-31   He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?   27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.