Issue 26: “Starlings”
"Poetry is a nightingale that sits in the darkness and sings"
-Percy Bysshe Shelley
Our mission at the Matthew 25 Initiative is to equip and sustain Anglicans serving alongside the vulnerable. The work of justice and mercy is often wondrous and also difficult. Holding beauty, naming pain, and contending for hope is what M25i does well. Walter Brueggeman writes, "A poem utters the unutterable and thinks the unthinkable." In places of brokenness, where much feels unutterable and unimaginable, we encounter Jesus. Continue with us in reflection and prayer through this series, "For the Soul," as poetry might offer us Spirit-soaked imaginations. For the summer series, we will be highlighting singer-songwriters, the poets and bards of our time. We hope you enjoy!
SET UP FOR THIS UNUSUAL “POEM”
Songs are poetry. Like any good storyteller, Randy Stonehill's lyrics are meant to challenge the listener to "resee" the realities around them. What or who are we not seeing?
Just listen to the themes in his songs (we made an 11 song playlist for you that you can dive into at the bottom of this email!). These lyrics, like all great folk music, give us images that make the invisible visible:
"Christmas at Dennys" (the working poor, trauma, addiction)
"Rachel Delevoryas" (in group-outsider dynamics, prejudice-stigma)
"Charlie the Weatherman" (homelessness, hospitality, dignity)
"You Can Still Walk Tall" (chronic pain, disabilities)
"Stand Like Steel" (contending, race, global)
"Starlings," that we've shared below, focuses our attention on the neglected, voiceless, unseen, devalued and cast-off. The song begins with the story of riding in the '58 Buick as a child and watching starlings "rise from the fields to fly." The child notices their beauty while his mother disregards them for the trouble they cause farmers.
The chorus then reminds the listener to take note: what might a child notice that adults glance over without a second thought?
The second verse then moves attention away from the starlings and to a woman who he met at a gas station. Enough of our words! Read the lyrics for yourself...
Take a moment to read the lyrics to "Starlings" slowly and, if possible, out loud. Listen for the Spirit to speak through these words, whispering of the worth of the vulnerable unseen.
After reading prayerfully first, listen to this beautiful song.
Starlings
By Randy Stonehill
Riding with my family in the '58 Buick, I can still recall
how we'd drive through the valley to my grandmother's
house every summer vacation when I was small,
And I'd gaze out the window at the farms and the orchards,
counting the telephone poles passing by,
And the sound of our motor would frighten the starlings,
and they'd rise from the fields to fly,
My mother would grumble, "Those birds are a curse;
they're a thorn in the farmers' side,"
But I couldn't help feeling sad and inspired
by their desperate ballet in the sky.
Say a prayer for the starlings,
The hot, dry wind beats their ragged wings,
Have a thought for the starlings,
No one ever listens to the songs they sing,
Say a prayer for the starlings,
There's no welcome for them anywhere,
Leave some crumbs for the starlings,
They say that winter will be cold this year.
She was sitting on a curb by the 7 Eleven;
she asked if I had some spare change,
Her skin wore that leathered and wind-burned look,
and the light in her blue eyes was wild and strange,
I sat down beside her and asked her her name,
She said, "Pick one you like; I need something to eat,"
And her life made me think of the dead leaves in autumn
drifting like ghosts down the street,
Is the life that we celebrate only a dream,
a lie that we serve like a god made of stone?
And our hearts are the hunter,
Birds with no nesting place,
weary and aching for home.
Say a prayer for the starlings,
The hot, dry wind beats their ragged wings,
Have a thought for the starlings,
No one ever listens to the songs they sing,
Say a prayer for the starlings,
There's no welcome for them anywhere,
Leave some crumbs for the starlings,
They say that winter will be cold this year, this year.
LISTEN & SEE…
LIVING ISA58 COURSE
Parish leaders, are you looking for a resource for small groups or Sunday formation class? Use this course for rich, robust, elegant, and interactive learning and growth in your communities.
This resource is completely free and includes the digital materials, facilitation guides, exercises, slide decks, and even email templates to ease communication for church groups.
At the Matthew 25 Initiative, we hope to shape an ACNA that is known for its vision of those who are most vulnerable in our society.
We help parishes and dioceses strategize, launch new works of justice and mercy, revamp works that have gotten stuck, and offer resources to their churches that can mature what it means to be Anglicans who love Christ in the poor, the imprisoned, the stranger, and the hungry.
