A. Bird
@abirds-view.bsky.social
Autistic/Disabled Church Lady. Poet. Femme. Cat Mom.
wigglesandwonder.substack.com
abirdinchurch.com
wigglesandwonder.substack.com
abirdinchurch.com
Late to this party because I’m never on here
I took the Anglican Spectrum Test and I'm a "A Laudian Sola-Fide Enjoying"! Find out your theological alignment: anglican-quiz.vercel.app
I took the Anglican Spectrum Test and I'm a "A Laudian Sola-Fide Enjoying"! Find out your theological alignment: anglican-quiz.vercel.app
Anglican Spectrum Test - Discover Your Theological Alignment
Take the Anglican Three Values Quiz to discover your theological alignment between Catholic, Protestant, and Liberal traditions. Get a personalized title and historical figure match.
anglican-quiz.vercel.app
December 6, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Late to this party because I’m never on here
I took the Anglican Spectrum Test and I'm a "A Laudian Sola-Fide Enjoying"! Find out your theological alignment: anglican-quiz.vercel.app
I took the Anglican Spectrum Test and I'm a "A Laudian Sola-Fide Enjoying"! Find out your theological alignment: anglican-quiz.vercel.app
How are we called by John the Baptist to prepare the way? This Sunday's Psalm and Gospel together offer us a sense of what an Advent of repentance as preparation might look like.
An Advent of Repentance?
John The Baptist Opens The Way
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:21 PM
How are we called by John the Baptist to prepare the way? This Sunday's Psalm and Gospel together offer us a sense of what an Advent of repentance as preparation might look like.
This is a favorite question in our house/for folks we interact with - my answer is Oklahoma City Bombing
1. What was the first major news story you remember as a child?
November 27, 2025 at 11:29 PM
This is a favorite question in our house/for folks we interact with - my answer is Oklahoma City Bombing
Advent is one of so many ways we are invited into new beginnings – to blanket calendars, steady ritual, fresh starts. How do we embrace a readiness that balances false starts and glitches, our persistent, imperfect efforts and the constancy of our faith?
Therefore, You Also Must Be Ready
A Prepared & Present Advent
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Advent is one of so many ways we are invited into new beginnings – to blanket calendars, steady ritual, fresh starts. How do we embrace a readiness that balances false starts and glitches, our persistent, imperfect efforts and the constancy of our faith?
I think a lot about the Kingdom of God as being a "What If" thing – so how do we conjure it through the combined power of scripture and imagination?
King of the Great What If
The Feast of Christ the King in the Era of 'No Kings'
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:17 PM
I think a lot about the Kingdom of God as being a "What If" thing – so how do we conjure it through the combined power of scripture and imagination?
I'm really into Paul, but especially in our work with children, we've gotta keep a close eye on some of the stuff coming out of his mouth, so to speak..
The Tradition That You Have Received
Paul *was* just a guy who got stuff wrong.
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I'm really into Paul, but especially in our work with children, we've gotta keep a close eye on some of the stuff coming out of his mouth, so to speak..
I don't know how to explain that I am a millennial church school director in an Episcopal Church and I'm standing in the office this morning debating about whether I'm making copywork binders for my church school kids.
November 9, 2025 at 2:08 PM
I don't know how to explain that I am a millennial church school director in an Episcopal Church and I'm standing in the office this morning debating about whether I'm making copywork binders for my church school kids.
Status: in a relationship with the Vince Lombardi rest stop on the NJ pike
November 8, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Status: in a relationship with the Vince Lombardi rest stop on the NJ pike
Young-ish people are relatively fluent in the concepts of aphantasia, but that's in part because the language is actually quite new and so has circulated on social media! I've talked about it in my preaching before and how I think it impacts my particular spiritual life.
Some People Can’t See Mental Images. The Consequences Are Profound
Research has linked the ability to visualize to a bewildering variety of human traits—how we experience trauma, hold grudges, and, above all, remember our lives.
www.newyorker.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Young-ish people are relatively fluent in the concepts of aphantasia, but that's in part because the language is actually quite new and so has circulated on social media! I've talked about it in my preaching before and how I think it impacts my particular spiritual life.
Newsletter time! As we move past Allhallowtide and come closer to Advent, we encounter the infinite life – for none are dead in Christ – and infinite light – the light of the world who precedes all things. In him there is life and light abundant.
To Him All Are Alive
Light and Life Abundant
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Newsletter time! As we move past Allhallowtide and come closer to Advent, we encounter the infinite life – for none are dead in Christ – and infinite light – the light of the world who precedes all things. In him there is life and light abundant.
My other success this morning was my sensory bin. My regular crew largely needs some tactile and visual input - but I have a pretty comprehensive selection available. Today a parishioner complimented the selection because her visiting grandkids meaningfully benefitted from the full set of options.
November 2, 2025 at 6:42 PM
My other success this morning was my sensory bin. My regular crew largely needs some tactile and visual input - but I have a pretty comprehensive selection available. Today a parishioner complimented the selection because her visiting grandkids meaningfully benefitted from the full set of options.
Today I handed off my 5th grade acolytes to the deeply devoted high schooler who adores serving at the altar and went to my classroom with the little kids. Watching him so gently manage them when I came back in at the end of worship filled my heart up more than I can describe.
November 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Today I handed off my 5th grade acolytes to the deeply devoted high schooler who adores serving at the altar and went to my classroom with the little kids. Watching him so gently manage them when I came back in at the end of worship filled my heart up more than I can describe.
Happy November! I’m so excited to be praying along with so many people this month in a special way as the author for this month’s Forward Day By Day devotions.
November 1, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Happy November! I’m so excited to be praying along with so many people this month in a special way as the author for this month’s Forward Day By Day devotions.
Added two more priests to my text log yesterday. Because my phone is not totally consumed by the Episcopal Church, no, not at all.
October 29, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Added two more priests to my text log yesterday. Because my phone is not totally consumed by the Episcopal Church, no, not at all.
Did not take any pictures at my friend’s celebration of new ministry because I was in a pew of delightful elementary school children, but did get to visit St. Paul’s Newburyport on a work project, which was lovely!
October 29, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Did not take any pictures at my friend’s celebration of new ministry because I was in a pew of delightful elementary school children, but did get to visit St. Paul’s Newburyport on a work project, which was lovely!
I'm overscheduled right now. That's a fact. And so, a turn towards prayer –
Martin Luther & the Invitation to Sabbath
Busy? Well, you better start praying.
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I'm overscheduled right now. That's a fact. And so, a turn towards prayer –
Proud Mama Bird of my new acolyte corps but wow I would love not to have done that on almost no sleep with a post covid booster headache.
October 26, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Proud Mama Bird of my new acolyte corps but wow I would love not to have done that on almost no sleep with a post covid booster headache.
My primary church job is very part time and I'm a lay person but it also means that work is what I have as a parish - it's a weird balance. Anyway, I'm currently "volunteering" some hours on making acolyte program banners because this is about that special rites of passage stuff that matters.
October 25, 2025 at 11:46 PM
My primary church job is very part time and I'm a lay person but it also means that work is what I have as a parish - it's a weird balance. Anyway, I'm currently "volunteering" some hours on making acolyte program banners because this is about that special rites of passage stuff that matters.
In last week's newsletter I asked, "what do we teach?" in regard to content – what texts do we teach? Why?
This week, I wonder what we teach through prayer; what, in particular, can the examen teach children about being in intimate relationship with God?
This week, I wonder what we teach through prayer; what, in particular, can the examen teach children about being in intimate relationship with God?
Make Room Inside
The Examen and Intimacy With God
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:13 PM
In last week's newsletter I asked, "what do we teach?" in regard to content – what texts do we teach? Why?
This week, I wonder what we teach through prayer; what, in particular, can the examen teach children about being in intimate relationship with God?
This week, I wonder what we teach through prayer; what, in particular, can the examen teach children about being in intimate relationship with God?
About 15 years ago my mom left me a little FB message that my younger sister had to write an essay about whether or not Columbus had been a good person or not and she had said no.
Today, one of my 5th grade kiddos as work referred to Columbus Day with air quotes.
The kids keep getting better.
Today, one of my 5th grade kiddos as work referred to Columbus Day with air quotes.
The kids keep getting better.
October 13, 2025 at 2:51 AM
About 15 years ago my mom left me a little FB message that my younger sister had to write an essay about whether or not Columbus had been a good person or not and she had said no.
Today, one of my 5th grade kiddos as work referred to Columbus Day with air quotes.
The kids keep getting better.
Today, one of my 5th grade kiddos as work referred to Columbus Day with air quotes.
The kids keep getting better.
October is AAC awareness month. I am autistic, but hyperverbal. (Poor @silaslee.bsky.social has suffered my yapper status.) In crisis, I occasionally lose functional speech, but it's rare. My interest in AAC is about allyship, community, and education. /1
October 10, 2025 at 4:35 PM
October is AAC awareness month. I am autistic, but hyperverbal. (Poor @silaslee.bsky.social has suffered my yapper status.) In crisis, I occasionally lose functional speech, but it's rare. My interest in AAC is about allyship, community, and education. /1
Reposted by A. Bird
Must read for the book world from @defector.com and something I would have cited the hell out of in Art of Libromancy if it'd been out before I wrote it. tl;dr: Publishing is always ideological, especially when we claim it's not.
Good Riddance To ‘The Best American Poetry’ | Defector
When David Lehman, a poet then working as a book critic for Newsweek, proposed the project for The Best American Poetry anthology, he was searching for a national platform. His first anthology project...
defector.com
October 1, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Must read for the book world from @defector.com and something I would have cited the hell out of in Art of Libromancy if it'd been out before I wrote it. tl;dr: Publishing is always ideological, especially when we claim it's not.
Wrote about jigsaw puzzles and Jesus reminding us that we don't earn praise for doing only what we were supposed to do – and also about the person who taught me what such obedience looks like, my Mimi, who passed on to her eternal rest on Sunday.
Every Puzzle Is Equally Complicated
But Some Take A Lot Longer To Solve (Yeah, it's a metaphor.)
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Wrote about jigsaw puzzles and Jesus reminding us that we don't earn praise for doing only what we were supposed to do – and also about the person who taught me what such obedience looks like, my Mimi, who passed on to her eternal rest on Sunday.
Philosophy of cure arguments are (arguably) an academic problem. Meanwhile have a public health and scientific literacy crisis.
September 29, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Philosophy of cure arguments are (arguably) an academic problem. Meanwhile have a public health and scientific literacy crisis.
Oh my gosh, just opened the cards two of my second graders made and left for the stuffed cat Phoebe in my office and they wrote literal acrostic odes to her inside. (It's that big literacy jump between just out of K and just out of 1st grade). So cute.
September 29, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Oh my gosh, just opened the cards two of my second graders made and left for the stuffed cat Phoebe in my office and they wrote literal acrostic odes to her inside. (It's that big literacy jump between just out of K and just out of 1st grade). So cute.