"The Trembling Dove"

(Ps 107:1-9; Hosea 11:1-11; Luke 12:22-31) JG White

Sun, Aug 3, 2025, FBC Amherst

Sermon two, of my summer on the theme of some creatures of creation. Today, consider the birds. 

Once upon a time, a couple decades ago, I was hiking the trails of Thomas’s Cove, at Economy Point. It was a sunny, summer’s day. As I wandered through the woods, above the beach, I heard a soft sound. As I walked, I was getting closer. It was a sort of ‘whoo, whoo,’ noise. An owl! I thought. In the middle of the day, at that. ‘Whoo, whoo.’ So I crept along quietly, following the sound. ‘Whoo, Whoo.’ It was close, so close. “Whoo, Whoo!’ There it was! I saw it. 

That was the day I learned the sound of the mourning dove. It was no owl; it was a dove. I sure have remembered it ever since. 

 Like the murmur of the dove’s song, like the struggle of her flight… come, Holy Spirit, come. 

Doves and pigeons and the like lived in the Middle East, and are mentioned in scripture at many points. Such as today, in Hosea, that Hebrew prophet of a short Old Testament book. Oh, we heard that poignant poem of God who simply cannot reject the special people who have failed God yet again. It is as if Creator would say to us today: How can I give you up, Amherst? How can I hand you over, O River Hebert? How can I make you like Little Forks dump? How can I treat you like abandoned Shulie? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

And so the people who were scattered will return. They will return like trembling doves, in the face of God the great Lion. But, the prophet said, the LORD does not come in wrath. And so, the people will return to their homes. Like mild birds to their nests. 

We hear the Biblical theme of the bird that has its nest, its place to call home, and hopefully to be safe. That sense of home, and a nest, speak to the human heart, it touches our soul. Look at this artwork I bought years ago, to have in the homes Sharon and I have made, on the front cover ( a bird’s nest).

One way we express the Good News of our faith is the sense of home, and the way to get back to home, after being away. The Children of Israel getting back to the Promised Land is one huge saga. Jesus’ parable of the lost sons is a little story, with the younger son returning home in a terrible state, yet welcomed with open arms.

Today we recited some of Psalm 107, and said: You were in serious trouble, but you prayed to the Lord, and he rescued you. At once he brought you to a town. Maybe you have had the experience of being able to get back to a place for your heart, a home for your soul, to a nest, fluttering in like a trembling dove. 

Twenty some years ago I went down to Diligent River on a Sunday evening for the 7 o’clock service. Along with preaching we would have communion. In the afternoon, a woman who set the table with bread and grape juice opened the two doors of the one-room church to freshen the air. Two weeks since the last service. A couple of the pigeons that hung around there accidentally flew inside… and, of course, they could not figure out how to fly out the doors. 

By the time I got there in the evening - early for the service - one of the deacons was trying to evict them. All he’d accomplished was to get them to fly around a bit and poop on a few pews. So we had the service with two pigeons perched on a high rail at the back, above the doors. Only once they cooed softly. 

This was before smartphones and wifi and all, and that evening I could not quite remember, or find quickly in my Bible, which of the Psalms says 

Even the sparrow finds a home 

    and the swallow a nest for herself,

    where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

    my King and my God.

What Psalm is this? Eighty-four.

Here, we try to keep pigeons and starlings from nesting in our building, but some do manage to roost here, to perch and rest. 

Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live. So we sing, and we mean more than just here, in this building. We mean our whole neck of the woods. We heed the call of Christ to build a community of love and safety. 

I remember when our Syrian friends came as refugees to Digby, ten years ago. At moments, when they first arrived, they were like trembling doves, coming to a new home, shattered by the war-ravaged home they left behind. What had those little children seen? And the parents! We got hints from them, as we translated our English into Arabic and their Arabic into English. How we remember the first nights in Digby, in a huge house, how Shekrallah was vigilant to know if it could be locked and be secure! In little Digby.

They were indeed trembling, in a new, strange, but safe home. 

I have a recording of a choir singing a high falutin anthem that quotes Psalm 55. Oh for the wings, for the wings of a dove, far away, far away would I rove…. In the wilderness build me a nest, And remain there for ever at rest… (Mendlessohn)

Once again we might hear Jesus - for our day and age, our people - say He would so love to gather people together like a hen gathering the chicks beneath her wings. It is a real gift of hospitality for us to show this spirit, to cooperate with Christ to gather others. To welcome a stranger. To show radical hospitality.

Even at the heart of the Church’s worship is a Table, and this ceremony of Jesus. With Jesus as the gracious host, offering Himself with bread and wine. Here, today, may the Spirit of Holiness descend like a Dove. And perhaps we will sense how the Saviour again longs to open wide wings and gather people to a place of security and belonging.