His eye is on the sparrow

STORM LAKE, Iowa — Just as she did during the 2025 edition of Synod School, Mary Conklin, now 103 years old, displayed her chops on the organ by leading an eye-watering version of “His Eye is on the Sparrow” for the 650 people attending Synod School this year.

“So many reasons that tears fall at this moment,” said the Rev. CeCe Armstrong, this year’s Synod School preacher and the Co-Moderator of the 226^th General Assembly. “Hearing the sound of the children is what makes it even better.”

“Not only does God watch over each and every one of us, God watches over all those children, and children we can’t see, and people we don’t know and who don’t know God,” Armstrong said.

“I honor you for being here,” she told Conklin, who was given a standing ovation following her final chord.

“Sparrow Lessons” was the title for Wednesday’s sermon, which was preceded by an informative children’s time led by Stephanie Hoklotubbe, who distributed facts about sparrows read by a handful of children. Among them:

• Sparrows prefer to live near humans, and they’ve done so since the Stone Age.
• Mothers lay 3-5 eggs. Mom and Dad take turns keeping the eggs warm, and both work to feed the chicks.
• Sparrows take dust baths to keep themselves clean.
• Residents of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia use the term “sparrow’s fart” to refer to the crack of dawn.
• World Sparrow Day, designed to raise awareness about the house sparrow and other urban birds facing population declines, is celebrated every March 20.

“Luke tells us not one sparrow is forgotten by God,” Hoklotubbe said. “Just as God cares for them, God cares for you too.”

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The letters found in “sparrow” reminded Armstrong of these qualities: Strength, Perseverance, Adaptability, Resourcefulness, Reliability, Ordinary and Worth.

“No act in life is too small to be noticed by God,” Armstrong told those in worship. “You don’t need a spotlight to show on you. Just let the light in you shine.”

Echoing Hoklotubbe’s message to the children, Armstrong said that just as God takes care of the sparrow, “surely God will take care of us, and if we find ourselves dreaming of greater things, God’s love will sit there as well.”

“A sparrow trusts God,” she said, “and so can you.”

She told the story of a boy in England studying for the ministry. A cobbler in his hometown was supporting him in his studies. “You’re doing what was always my dream,” the cobbler told the student. “Let me make your shoes for free. That way, you’ll be preaching the gospel standing in my shoes.”

“In God’s huge economy of grace,” Armstrong said, “no one’s work goes unrewarded.”

Armstrong recalled a ritual her mother would perform every morning late in life. “She’d wake up and walk over to a large window, open the curtains and say, ‘I see the sun and the sun sees me. God bless the sun, and God bless me.’ Then she’d burst out singing ‘Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah,’ the whole song, at the top of her lungs.”

“She knew that whatever happened that day, it would be even better because God was at the beginning of it.”

“I learned from my mom and the sparrows and that bluebird on my shoulder: Since God can bless the sun to rise, surely God can bless us. That’s why it’s so easy to say (and many worshipers joined her to say), ‘God loves you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’”

Synod School is a ministry of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies.