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February 2007 |
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Twitching for JesusFor a number of years, the Tongue family from Holy Trinity, Hobart, have had an interest in bird-watching. John and Shirley Tongue explain. We have always kept a Parish List, of bird species seen in whatever parish we have been in. However, we never wanted to become 'too serious' - after all bird watchers can be pretty weird! There has been lots of encouragement, though, to build connections and networks into the community for the sake of the Gospel. An elective at a recent Diocesan Ministry Conference was about using your hobbies to build relationships with people. And a speaker at a seminar at a 'Shaping of Things to Come' workshop spoke of 'Eavesdropping for Jesus'. So we decided to get more seriously involved with our bird-watching interests. We joined Birds-Tasmania and started to go to meetings. We tried to take part in bird-watching outings. Many of these used to be on Sundays - not a good day for a clergy family - but whenever we would comment on the fact, we were always told that was when most people could come. After a few attempts, however, we were told they were always looking for leaders, and if we wanted to lead on another day… When we did organise one outing, people saw that we were serious, and the co-ordinators then commented that there were a lot on Sundays, and perhaps they could swap some to other days. This really put the pressure on us to attend! We do want to be 'good' members of the society, though, and so attend whenever we can. We've helped out with bird surveys - particularly at Ralph's Bay - and offered advice and suggestions to other 'fledgling' birdos, and visiting enthusiasts. In January we organised the inaugural 'Great Tassie Twitch' - a bird-watching competition, or 'twitchathon', where teams see how many species they can spot in a twenty-four hour period. It was lots of fun, and raised about 13 teams from various parts of the state. Gradually, we are getting to know new groups of people, and to build up relationships. Like any gospel work, it is slow going, but some initial barriers and suspicions are breaking down, as they see we are just as much 'crazy birders' as they are. So, for us, bird-watching is not only an interest, but has become a means of connecting with others for the Gospel - and besides, it's also in obedience to another of Jesus' great commandments ('look at the birds of the air…' Matthew 6:26).
Note from Tongue Twitchers: By the way, though we did well in the 'twitchathon', we didn't win …but you might have to ask us 'why' in person. |
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