Hooray, it's our pet blessing
This weekend we are celebrating our annual pet blessing and we have deliberately chosen to align it closely with St. Francis day which falls in early October. St. Francis saw, understood and enjoyed glimpses of God in the created order and especially with animals. So he spoke openly and unashamedly about sister moon and brother sun. At Christchurch Hamilton we have a window in the porch in his honour and as you would expect it has a menagerie of animals to view.
As this parish is in a regional part of Victoria understands better than most just how special is the relationship between animals and humans. You don’t have to travel too far out of town to see that this relationship, this interdependence is not only something that is vital for the livelihood of our hardworking farmers and their families, but it is also something that they actually enjoy. I had the undeserved privilege of growing up on a wheat sheep farm in the Wimmera and I well remember the sheep, the chooks, the pigs and even the odd cow. It was a fantastic life and I remember feeding all these animals and the pleasure of watching them grow and flourish.
And then there are our pets. Those special animals that we have a unique relationship with. We engage with them, we feed them, we scold them, we cuddle them, we pick up after them and we simply enjoy them.
The Genesis creation story makes it pretty clear that with this relationship of care for God's creation, there comes a certain responsibility as well. Those of us with pets and with livestock well understand that in addition to the sparkle of the relationship, we have duties to perform and nurture to offer, even when and especially when, our animals and pets drive us nuts.
Human life and the lives of animals are sacred. It is not something to be treated lightly or with disrespect. In looking after God’s animals we are sharing in God’s creative work and that is a wonderful vocation and something we should rejoice in.
Our animals teach us things, like responsibility, like the need to feed and discipline our creatures. They stretch us and inevitably we fall in love with them. Just ask anyone whose pet has died about the hurt and sorrow they felt. If they can articulate this sorrow, they will tell you that it wasn’t very nice. That's me dressing it up and trying to be polite about it.
This relationship between livestock and person, pet and owner is an exceptional relationship. It is utterly and simply enjoyable. But more than that, it is a mirror image of the relationship that we have with God.
We say a lot to our pets, “Sit, stand, come here … and don’t. Sometimes we need to say those things repeatedly.
We are constantly speaking to the creatures we love. Even if the speaking is done through a pat, or a stroke, or a cuddle.
But I wonder what our pets would say to us, particularly in their twilight years,..
I reckon they would say something like this.
“Thank you for feeding me and caring for me. You admonished and rebuked me when I needed it and you encouraged and supported me when I was on the right path.
Sometimes it was great and sometimes I really needed steering back in the right direction and a jolly good spanking. But always, always you loved me, even when you had to tick me off, I always knew you were loving me.
And that, my friends, is the sort of thing we should say to God on a regular basis.
“Thank you for feeding me and caring for me. You admonished and rebuked me when I needed it and encouraged and supported me when I was on the right path.
Sometimes it was great and sometimes I really needed steering back in the right direction. But always, always you loved me, and even when you had to tick me off, I always knew you were loving me. You were always there for me. Always.