Here's your bonus image for the week. We spent this morning at the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center, a vet hospital-plus-education-center for owls, hawks, eagles, etc. Johannes is a huge fan of owls, so this was his birthday party.
Fascinating fact: the peregrine falcon is the fastest creature on earth, able to dive at a speed of 200 mph to capture its prey. (Not to confuse anyone: the bird to the left is a red-tailed hawk. .. a bit slower). Perefrines kill not just with their talons but with the sheer speed of collision when they crash into the unsuspecting meal-to-be.
In her memoir Leaving Church, Barbara Brown Taylor raises the possibility that we have the wrong bird in mind when we consistently think of the Holy Spirit as a dove. Perhaps sometimes the Spirit, instead of settling on us gently like a snowy white peace symbol, descends like lightning with talons outstretched? That seems more fitting with the God John the Baptist was talking about. Not a comforting thought, but not inconsistent with the biblical sense of the Spirit's power.
