Flee as a bird...

The cry is disturbing, discordant as it pierces the evening dusk. It raises the hair on your arms and vague memories of stories told about panther screams in the woods float to the surface. Speculation about the source of the sound is the new game at the farm until one afternoon, walkers spot a peacock in the pasture with the wild turkeys. It is the peacock cry we have been hearing…strident, strong, grating to the ears. Living in the country, you become accustomed to strays dumped by feckless folk who do not subscribe to the Saint Francis model for living with animals. This is a first for us though… a peacock who may have wandered from home and now runs with the wild turkeys that roost in the woods below our bedroom window. No one has seen the loud peafowl since the initial sighting but he has made his presence known nonetheless. The rooster crows, the peacock cries and our morning alarms have been sounded. Harsh sounds, minor key sounds…
Oldtimers knew that life was not always pretty, pleasant and triumphant. Their church music reflected their translation of life and faith as both minor and major keys. These days, most of what I hear in “modern” church music is relentlessly upbeat, cheery, toe tapping handclapping singalong tunes that exclude the possibility of anguish and defeat for God’s people… the minor key. Real life, life of faith and promise, is lived with both major and minor key changes as a part of our human experience. One without the other is a form of cheap grace or unending worthlessness. If all we ever sing is joy, joy, joy, what happens when we need to flee as a bird to the mountains?
In the Broadman Hymnal, number 459 is Flee as a Bird written by Mrs. M.S.B. Davis. Dramatic, a tad overdone perhaps, this song from my youth nevertheless captures me with the image of a bird fleeing to the mountains, the minor key sounds punctuated with occasional major key chords. A song full of words of assurance…peace then shall flow like a river; He will protect thee forever; thou shalt be saved from thy fear… sung in a minor key. We are the sum of both and not an expression of either or.
I sing with Mrs. M.S.B. Davis and the peacock… Flee as a bird to the mountain, thou who art weary of sin. I give thanks for all the songs of my life in major and minor keys that lift my spirit and keep me tethered to the One who hears all the songs of my heart, the One who sings along with me whatever key I am in. It is more than enough. Amen.