February 28 - Grow Some Feathers

A Plymouth Rock hen from Apple Holler Farm, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

by Magdalena I. García

Church services always end with a benediction. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, this is the origin of the word: “benedictio, from benedicere (to bless), from Latin, meaning to speak well of; from bene (well), akin to Latin bonus or good + dicere (to say).” Therefore, as part of the church benediction most parishioners expect to hear some special blessing in recognizable words. This explains the puzzled look on my flock as they exited the worship service this morning and inquired, “What was that you said, Pastor?” To which I replied, “Grow some feathers.”

If you follow the Revised Common Lectionary—a plan for covering a wide range of Scripture over a three-year cycle—and read the Gospel selection for the second Sunday in Lent you know exactly where I’m coming from. Jesus is at the end of his earthly ministry, and as he approaches Jerusalem, the Holy City, the place where his ultimate act of compassion will be staged, he cries out (or perhaps sighs out): “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34).

I like that image of God as mother hen. There is something really comforting about imagining God covering us little chicks under her wings. And we all have our moments—perhaps on a daily basis—when we desperately need this metaphor to survive and to carry on. But I invited my congregation to take the image a step further. Can you imagine us honoring our partnership with God, and playing the role of the mother hen? In a world where the endangered brood includes children, women, gays and lesbians, the unemployed, the poor, people of color, immigrants, and many others, God needs all the hens God can get!

Lent is supposed to be a season when we give up something, like a bad habit, and take on something, such as a helpful practice. I suggest that this year we try stretching our limbs, giving up some skin, and...growing some feathers.