Surprise Theology of the Angry Birds

The symbolism was hard to understand. "WATCH OUT FOR NESTING BIRD-SHARP TALONS!" read the sign in front of the little Baptist church across from my bus stop. Interpreting this church's signs had become an important aid in whiling away the time between when WMATA said the bus would arrive to take me to the Spectator offices and when it actually came. Normally the diversion provided by the daily message lasted but a few seconds before I had to admit to myself that I had drawn out every possible moral, theme, motif, and symbol and move grimly on to other time-killing pursuits. This particular message about the bird and the talons, though, had me wondering. The imagery eluded me, and left me regretful, probably not for the last time, that I didn't know more about the Bible. Something about the wings of eagles or maybe the birds of the air flitted through my mind, but I struggled to make sense of this call for probity in the face of evil's razor-sharp talons.