True story.

One Sunday morning at the old First Congregational Church a sparrow got into the sanctuary during the worship service. I guess the door to the bell tower was left open and the sparrow, hearing all the singing and the words of my inspiring sermon, decided to drop in and see what all the commotion was about.

Now, the sanctuary of the old First Congregational Church was brightened by the sunlight streaming in from the huge Palladian windows. They were clear glass – still the original handrolled panes that had been installed in 1828, the year the church was built. And when this little sparrow fluttered into the room, it saw the great expanse of sky and freedom through those windows.

But it didn’t see the glass.

Like a shot, the little bird flew toward freedom only to crash into the windows on one side of the church. Then, picking itself up from the floor, the sparrow made a mad dash for the blue sky on the other side.

Thump! It hit the windows again.

Now all this was going on while I was preaching. I’ve preached to some pretty tough crowds in my time, but let me tell you, this was the toughest one of all. The eyes of the people followed that little sparrow from one side of the church to the other – over and over again. It was like preaching to a crowd at Wimbledon.

And each time the little sparrow crashed into the glass trying to get out, the people would groan in empathy. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the little thing did itself in.

Now I was a new minister in those days and nothing in seminary had prepared me for this. I mean, there are just some things in life they don’t write books about, or teach classes on. I was at a loss as to what to do – except to pray.

So I stopped preaching and asked the people to become still, and for the ushers to open the doors. Then I invited the congregation to join me in asking God to intervene and show the little sparrow the way out of the church. So the people bowed their heads and closed one eye – after all, they wanted to SEE what happened – and we prayed.

And as we prayed, this is what happened. That little brown sparrow flew down and landed in the middle of the aisle. And then – as if guided by some unseen hand – that little sparrow slowly WALKED RIGHT DOWN THE AISLE AND OUT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE OLD FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH!

What is it they say about God and sparrows?