It was a warm spring day. The doors of the church were left open to let in the sun and the breeze. The service was in full swing. The preacher was just getting to the point of his message when he noticed a hummingbird fly into the church. He continued his wise words on the mission of the church while at the same time keeping an eye on the hummingbird. People's attention quickly drifted from the preacher talking about God to the beauty of God in their midst.
It soon became apparent though that the hummingbird was in distress. It was pounding itself against the fluorescent light thinking that it was perhaps the way out. The preacher realized that if something wasn't done hastily the poor hummingbird would bash itself to death. First they tried to gently coax it out with a broom, but that did not seem to work. It kept going back to the light. Someone suggested that they turn the lights off, but again that did not work. Another person suggested they try to lure the bird out by using the flowers at the front of the church. Unfortunately, the flowers were plastic and the hummingbird was not fooled.
Another person suggested that they cover the plastic flowers with sugar water and perhaps that would entice the hummingbird to follow, but to no avail. By now the whole church was unified in its commitment to finding a way to save this poor bird as it continued to thrash itself against the light.
Someone else said he had an app on his phone that made the sounds of birds. He quickly found a hummingbird sound. He played his phone and prayed that it would work. The hummingbird stopped its frantic pounding long enough to look for the other hummingbird in the room. Slowly they were able to guide the hummingbird with the phone app and the plastic flowers covered with sugar water to the door and to freedom. The congregation cheered.
They learned a couple of important lessons that day about church from that frantic hummingbird. They learned the importance of working together. The mission of the church is about community. They also learned that if the first attempt does not work then don't give up but keep trying. The mission of the church is about being open to the creative leading of the Spirit. Sometimes you have to think outside the box. Finally, they learned that the heart of the church's mission is to help the frantic one, the broken one, the lost one find freedom
