Courtney Ellis is a bird enthusiast, a pastor, and an author. Her newest book is Looking Up: A Birder's Guide to Hope through Grief. She also hosts a wonderful podcast called The Thing with Feathers.  

Today's episode is a whimsical, ornithological, and theological swoop through Jesus' beatitudes from His Sermon on the Mount.  I asked Courtney to pair a bird to match each of Jesus' eight exclamations and she soared to the challenge. It's a fun way to kick off Summer Solstice! 

You can find Courtney at https://courtneybellis.com and also on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (now called X, but birders still prefer sending Tweets).  

Featuring "Songbird" by J.J. Heller (Used by Permission through Musicbed).