I Chirp because I'm Happy

from whence the chirping cometh

That's a twist from His Eye Is on the Sparrow

SParrows. Those cool birds.

Last Saturday I went to Alice's wedding ceremony at Katedral Jakarta. I thought, that would be cool because i admire the building and the choir. And lucky me Martha came along. Alice chose to wed her long time bf, Pak D, now christened Demitrius.

I sat in the third row (I must get every detail of this sermon, I said to myself) and when I turned my head to the right I saw something bizarre. The seat and the kneeling part were stained with droppings! Whoa!

Then my mind went back to 7 years ago.

I went to that church for Easter Mass back in 2001 with Kak Elda, Didin and Uria. Our main aim: listening to the choir. we heard nice words about it and we expected Latin mass. It turned out to be Indonesian mass and the choir sang a little. A seminary guy read the passage in singing tone. Beautiful though.

One thing i remembered was the chirping sound of sparrows throughout the mass. They nest here, in the house of worship, I thought.

So, i divided my attention: half for the holy matrimony (sacrament) and the other half for the sparrows. In the quarter of the mass, they came out of the mini gothic tower near the altar and began to make noise. Chirping!

when we prayed, they chirped
we sang, they chirped
we knelt, they chirped
we listened to the vows, they chirped
we listened to the sermon, they chirped

amazing! no wonder they're affectionately called burung gereja (church birds).

I suspect they nest behind those gothic carvings--from where the chirping was. These highly adaptable birds flew here and there, to the beautiful mozaic and ceiling, and to the lampstands. it was a beautiful sight to me.
Chirp! chirp!

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth"

After that, Martha and I sat and ate awhile in the garden near the huge heap of corals (Cave of Mary) and we were serenaded by the chirping and a new beautiful noise--perhaps of a starling (jalak).

Cool coexistence.