Not sure it is personal; maybe just coincidental. Out for my early morning jaunts recently, about a hundred yards up the street, there has been a crow. Several days, from its tree perch to my right, it has cawed-croaked, whatever they do. To this crow’s clarion, its companion on a roof to my left screeches back. Surely, they have something more interesting than me to talk about. But it appears we note and notice one another’s presence.

In our District Leadership Team, Dr. Ron Martoia has been coaching us on considering/noticing/paying attention to how we change. Specifically, how faith grows in us – how God’s beyond our own doing grace/love/strength constructs, deconstructs, and reconstructs how we think, feel, and act.

Ron called our attention to the connection between the Biblical words for repentance/transformation – metanoia, and for noticing/considering – katanoia. The ‘noia’ is root of and sounds like our various ‘knowing’ words. Meta means ‘beyond’; kata ‘with’.

These kinds of Biblical knowing are not mere interesting fun facts with which to impress our friends. They have to do with the way we fathom what makes our lives worth living and dying for. Metanoia is not a mere change of mind but more like a heart and brain transplant. Katanoia is noticing, considering the connections between what we see and what is unseen.

To consider what we see with Biblical eyes can be called a sacramental view of life. A sacrament is described as ‘an outward, visible sign of an inward, invisible reality.’ That reality is God’s mysterious presence and power...the holy encountered in the ordinary.

Not just communion bread or baptism water but God’s love and wonder in all food and water that replenish us. Not just in churchy stuff but in all the critters and daily stuff of our lives.

OK. So ‘consider’ what Jesus urges us to see and do when he says ‘consider’ the birds and flowers in Matthew 6 and Luke 12.

Actually, when I do my early morning jaunts, on occasion my dullness is awakened with ‘all creatures of our God and king’ moments along the way.

In my cell phone photo memory, I have the makings for a small album of my morning clicks of various buck-doe-fawn deer, bunnies, cranes, ducks, geese, turkeys, herons, cardinals, finches, bluebirds, and such. Not pictured are all the cats, squirrels, and chipmunks I see and the various neighborhood beloved dogs I stop to pet.

Sacramental moments, more or less: I am reminded of the holy in the ordinary, the mysterious life giver-taker in all living critters.

But crows screeching? That doesn’t fit the otherwise idyllic, Hallmark Moment of fluttery birds and graceful flowers.

Kairos, good timing, I came across CONSIDER THE BIRDS: A PROVOCATIVE GUIDE TO BIRDS OF THE BIBLE by Debbie Blue. Instead of sweet, airy birds referenced in Matthew...in Luke Jesus speaks specifically of ‘korakos’, translatable as raven or crow. The word even sounds like their croaky voices.

Blue does a chapter on ravens/crows in the Bible and history. By most eyes they are ugly birds, seldom if ever considered cute or sweet. The raven fails to come back to let Noah know how the floodwaters are doing. Leviticus puts ravens/crows on it’s famous abomination hit list. Yet it is ravens/crows that God sends to bring food to hungry Elijah.

With more detail than can be shared here, Blue surveys the mixed reviews of ravens and crows across time. Considered wise by some; tricksters by others. They team up with predator wolves, yet they are relatively big-brained birds that are faithful for life mates and good parents.

Hmmm. Blue muses that Jesus was up to something when he coaches us anxious humans to check out these questionable character birds. Who do we know that are mixed bags of good and bad? Hint: us.

We humans like to do the binary thing: dividing any and all in either the good or the bad category. This curious God of Jesus has the bigotry, binary busting way of loving, including, and providing for us all.

So the good, bad news of the Gospel is even questionable critters like crows and humans are visible signs of God’s including love. Whew. KNOWING that may help us go easier on each other.