John Fischer on Little Brown Birds and the Kingdom of Heaven

"According to Bill, who wrote us about the birds at his backyard feeder: Heaven is going to be full of little brown birds. 'I am avid about backyard birds,' he wrote, 'and have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to feed the cardinals and blue jays, without attracting all the house finches and sparrows.  One day I realized that I am one of the little brown birds in God’s human flock and that changed my attitude.  I now thoroughly enjoy feeding all of the birds that show up in my yard.'

"This is a great metaphor for what we so often get wrong about the gospel. We say the gospel is for everybody, but we don’t necessarily mean it. We like to associate with pretty people, upwardly mobile people – attractive types who give a good face on what we believe. We also like to associate with people who are like us — people of the same race, same economic status, same political beliefs, who send their kids to the same schools. We gravitate towards sameness and find comfort in the familiar.

"But the gospel of Jesus Christ is big and wide and messy. It is for everyone, even people we don’t like. It is for those on both sides of the tracks — those we admire and those we would rather not associate with."

-- John Fischer (http://catchjohnfischer.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/little-brown-birds/)