Lonely turkeys

I am haunted by a turkey.

We have a flock of wild turkeys that lives in the woods around the Companionary.  During the spring mating season I counted 29 of them one day.  Soon after, one lone tom separated from the flock.  He's been hanging around our place, and the surrounding woods, gobbling day after day for weeks.

At first I laughed, delighted that this turkey was here.  But now I'm haunted.  This poor turkey is gobbling to find a mate, or a flock.  This turkey is lonely.  This turkey needs community.

I asked myself, why does this touch me so?  This turkey's call for community reminds me of our need for community as well.  I get to meet a lot of people who want to share their lives, their passion for God, their love with others, but either don't feel called to monastic life or just don't dare or just can't find a place where they fit.  And they haunt me too.  We all need companions, we all need to be part of a flock - even a virtual one.

Sometimes Jesus calls us his sheep.  Sometimes he compares himself to a mother hen sheltering her flock.  Sometimes, as today at Eucharist, he talks about being the vine.  These are all different ways of expressing this truth - we belong together, rooted in and guided by the voice of love.  Turkeys, people (and who among us hasn't been a turkey sometimes?) - we need to belong.

I have been a lonely turkey for long stretches of my life.  I give thanks every day for this community, for all the communities that I now belong to.  My song is no longer the gobble of the lost and alone, but the crow of the delighted proclaimer.  But on any given day, I might be gobbling again.  I need all of you.

My prayer for you today is that you know you belong in Jesus' flock, in God's flock, even if you don't have face-to-face community.  I pray that you know the love that surrounds you, and find your way to a flock that reflects that love and lets you love in return.  God bless you and fill you with peace.