Jesus Bids Us Shine...& Count Birds!

 

Jesus bids us shine,

With a clear, pure light,
Like a little candle burning in the night;
In this world of darkness, we must shine,
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

                        Blue Hymnary 613

Earlier this week we met for lunch with good friends from the Clarington area. These are always stimulating get-togethers and the rain held off long enough that we could go for a pleasant walk at nearby  Presqu'ile Provincial Park.

During our ramble we heard that they will be involved in the annual Christmas Bird Count, a continent-wide event that's taken place since 1900, although the first one involved only two people. It is the longest running Citizen Science project, now with more that 2000 locations. Our friends are not exactly retired but they have more freedom in the use of their time so they have become involved with the Samuel Wilmot Nature Area near Newcastle. This area on the shore of Lake Ontario is small but mighty, on a migratory path for many bird species, including eagles, as well as Monarch butterflies, while the creek is visited by spawning salmon. 

Our active friends have become adept Monarch taggers wielding their nets like Samurai warriors (I may be exaggerating.) The group maintains bird nesting boxes and plants native flowers and grasses. This year's Bird Count is the first official one for Samuel Wilmot and is scheduled for January 2nd. How do they still get away with using the word "Christmas"? 

                                                            Canadian Bird Count Locations 

We got to know these lovely folks when I served a congregation in Bowmanville and they were quite involved along with their young sons. They have always had a concern and appreciation for the natural world, or Creation, so this involvement is an practical extension of that aspect of their lives and of their faith. This group and so many others like it are rays of hope in the gloomy world of environmental gloom. The Nature Area itself is well used but not widely known yet it is vital for lots of non-human species and an oasis of ecological health in a region with more and more suburban sprawl. 

When I was a wee lad we sang from a section in the Blue Hymnary with a section called For Little Children. One of the hymns that didn't survive in the development of subsequent worship resources was Jesus Bids Us Shine. Maybe it was because one verse has the line "He looks down from heaven" when we now have a sense of God's immanence as Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. There does seem to be far too much "sin and want and sorrow" at every turn yet we can make a difference at any stage of life. 

Thanks D and C, and may your lights continue to shine. 

Oh yes, did you know that a group of Monarch butterflies is a "kaleidoscope"? 

3 Jesus bids us shine then for all around

many kinds of darkness in this world are found

sin and want and sorry; so we must shine,

You in our small corner, and I in mine.

There are two components to the annual count:

1. a given geographic area is divided into manageable units called “ circles “ and are monitored on the day of the count by volunteers observing in the field
2. concurrently , feeder watches are conducted by citizens in their own yards