Rare bird...

I had just gotten home from a very busy Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist congregation that I serve. The house was quiet; the afternoon was grey and dreary. As I stood in the kitchen, my coat and gloves still on, I happened to glance out the window and noticed a lot of activity at the bird feeders.
Then I saw it. Leaves were being vigorously tossed about on the ground by a bird obviously foraging for a tasty snack. But what bird was this? It sort of looked like a robin, and in fact there were some other robins in the yard farther off. Yet this one was different.
So I carefully approached nearer to the window and stared and stared. Indeed, this was no robin. It had colors similar, but unique markings on its back and wings. All I could do was watch intently, not wanting to lose sight of it.
Then I decided I needed a closer look. So I tip-toed over to the bookshelf where my binoculars are kept, all the while hoping the bird hadn’t flown. (Well, not actually on my tippy-toes, but I did walk quietly and quickly so as not to disturb the birds - who were, may I remind you, outside!)
No, he was still there. So I looked some more, verifying the appearance and markings, committing them to memory. However, I didn’t think to also grab my camera and take a picture.
When the bird was gone, I got out my Peterson's Guide. There was no picture of this bird there, but a hint that it might have been a Varied Thrush - a “casual winter straggler from the Northwest” right here in my backyard! I then went to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website and confirmed my identification.
Yes, it was a rare visit to New Jersey from a northwestern species. But without a picture, you just have to take my word on it! Unfortunately, NJ Audubon or any other group that tracks such things will not just accept my assertion that this is what I saw.
All I’m asking is that you accept it on faith.
Now where have I heard that before?

When the Catholic Bishops say I shouldn’t watch something, it’s an irresistible draw for me to go and see it!

I read an article a few months ago that wondered if the film distribution company was going to have any problem selling “The Golden Compass” since it is a movie about atheism. Because of its obvious connection to their religion, Christians were able to promote the Narnia movie easily. “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, while not overtly religious, at least did not openly challenge the authority of their scripture or story.
But here comes a story that is written from an atheistic point of view! Pullman creates an imaginative, rich world - almost a parallel universe to our own. He infuses these books with a sense of wonder, but it is science-based and refreshingly not the supernatural view of creation.

A young person in a Unitarian Universalist congregation I was serving a few years ago thrust a copy of the first book of Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” Trilogy (The Golden Compass) in my hands, telling me I must read this. I didn’t at the time, but kept it on my bookshelf. We moved twice since then, and each time I took the paperback off the shelf and wondered whether to pack it or not. But it made the trip from Connecticut through Queens to New Jersey. And when I heard there was concern about how (or whether) to promote a movie based on a story that (purportedly) promotes atheism to young people, I knew now why I had to read it! Parents are being warned against taking their children to see this film lest their faith be challenged. So of course I wholeheartedly recommend the books and the movie to you.

If you take your religion seriously, and enjoy thinking about the world we live in, read this. The scars we all bear from those religious teachings that stress human sinfulness and how power coalesces around the control of thought and belief are just some of the themes you'll find here. It is classified as “young adult fantasy/fiction”, but it really is a book for us adults, too. And to my mind, it is much richer in its approach to life and death than the Harry Potter series.
Indeed, in the film as the character Lyra begins to discover her purpose in life, she is told about the coming war - the purpose of this struggle will be the preservation of human free will. And all this against a background of a world (and worlds) increasingly severed from its origins.
When a presidential candidate openly warns against a “religion of secularism” and advocates keeping God in our politics, we need this message more and more!