I recently found the birds chirping in my new neighborhood therapeutic and healing, especially considering the news about the hostile environment toward immigrants in some states of this country.

Friends, birds migrate. If they don't migrate, those living in places with long winters would be miserable.

Here’s the prayer for the "winged relations" and those who migrate like birds to root and fly, free and unfettered, again in spring as we slowly progress toward Holy Week and Easter. Birds are our neighbors. Those who migrate are our neighbors (echoing Mr. Rogers' Day spirit, too).

A prayer for our winged relations (by Rev. Mark Koenig)

God, creator of all that is,

we “look to the winged ones

who soar on the wind,”

and we give thanks this day

for you have made them

to “fly above the earth

and across the dome of the sky.”

For the beauty of the winged ones

you create in amazing diversity,

we give you thanks.

For the flight of the winged ones

whose movement inspires us,

we give you thanks.

For winged ones that do not fly

but swim or run with great power,

we give you thanks.

For the songs of the winged ones

that touch our hearts and stir our spirits,

we give you thanks.

Grant us wisdom to shape our living

In ways that honor and protect

our winged relations—

your beloved creatures in whom you delight.

We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

The first quotation and the image of “the winged ones” comes from Gift from Creator Tells the Good Story (Matthew) 6:26 in First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament. The second quotation comes from Genesis 1:20 in the NRSV Translation.