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Blessing of the Animals October 4, 2008 |
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Blessing of the Animals October 4, 2008 |
John Flicker, President of the Audubon Society reported recently in the Audubon Magazine that the American Bird Conservancy just completed an analysis of all birds in the United States. Of course, there is some bad news in the report – like 217 out of 700 US species on a WatchList as threatened. And there was also good news in the report.
Flicker explained that the good news is that “in the past when we have taken aggressive action, the declines that put birds on this list have often been reversed.” (Jan/Feb 2008) Like, as you may know, the California condor. At one point we were down to nine birds, all in captivity. Now there are over 150 of them flying free. They can be seen in natural habitats in California, Arizona, Mexico, and further down into Latin America.
When some among us were traveling in Latin America with friends several years ago they hiked to a cliff area in the morning to see if they could spot these majestic birds reported to be out there. They waited and waited, and it seemed they were not going to be lucky enough to see any. But finally there they came soaring freely and all were inspired to watch their massive wingspan swoop over the landscape. How glad they were they had waited!
Whooping cranes were down to about 20 birds and are now up to about 200. If you’ve seen the sand hill cranes we watch just a few miles from here you’ll know how precious it is that whooping cranes are having a come-back. Others are no longer on the WatchList, like bald eagles, the Yellowstone grizzly bear and brown pelicans. I’m particularly a pelican fan – having watched them for years along the Santa Monica Pier.
Today we’re holding a Blessing of the Animals – which includes birds and fish, reptiles and insects. Why do we do this? Many churches offer one near St. Francis Day because St. Francis called all creatures his brothers and sisters – and treated them so. One reason Lutherans offer Blessings of the Animals is that it is biblical. The first blessing in the Bible is a blessing over the creeping things and winged beings.
We read in Genesis 1, “So God created every living creature with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird, and God said it was good. And God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the waters in the seas; let birds multiply on the earth.” And so the blessing continues.
There are other reasons. Scripture sees humankind and other-kind held together in God’s remembrance. During the Blessing of the Animals today we [will] share[d] a wonderful litany of scripture celebrating creation. Even the Noah story says the animals are on God’s mind. Genesis 8:1 says, “God remembered Noah and all the wild beasts and all the domestic animals.”
There is a third reason for the church to bless animals. Humankind is entrusted with the care of creation – and what we bless we take care of! What we forget to bless we forget to hold in regard – to its peril and our own.
Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote, “Humankind will not die for lack of information. But is may perish for lack of appreciation.” Lutheran theologian Larry Rasmussen reflects on Heschel’s thought: “Lack of appreciation – by which Heschel meant acknowledgment, respect, value, care – results in maltreatment of human and other-kind.”
Perhaps you remember Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. An exchange happens between Shug and Celie, from which the book’s title is taken. Shug says to Celie, “Listen, God love everything you love – and a mess of stuff you don’t. But more than anything else, God love admiration.” Celie asks: “You saying God vain?” Shug then replies: “New … Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it puts God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” (Rasmussen, Earth Ethics, 203)
Some of us around here like Far Side cartoons. Perhaps you’ve seen the one that shows two tiny insects sitting on top of a mushroom looking up at the starlit sky. One remarks, “Just look at those stars tonight. Makes you feel sort of small and insignificant.”
Luther reflects on such magnitude in quite a different way. He writes in his lectures on Genesis, “Since God is able to bring forth the heaven and the stars; since God is able to create sun and moon, could not God also defend my body from enemies…, or after it has been placed in the grave, revive it for a new life?” (LW, 1, 49) For Luther, gazing on the grand creation didn’t arouse insignificance, but reasons for confidence and faith.
Listen to what he says, “The question can be raised why the Bible mentions only the sea monsters by name (and not all the little fish) – the leviathan in the Psalms and the dragon in Job... Then it is easy to conclude that since such large bodies were created by God, the smaller fish were also created by God. This buoys up our faith that we may more readily believe that God can preserve us too, even though we are far smaller beings.”
Luther goes on to say, “The mouse, too, is a divine creature… It has a very beautiful form – such pretty feet and such delicate hair that it is clear that it was created by the Word of God with a definite plan in view. Therefore here, too, we admire God’s creation. The same thing may be said about flies.”
Luther wrote this in 1535, about 475 years ago. Luther had a high regard for creation. His lectures on Genesis are some of his most beloved. He doesn’t write as a scientist – claiming a scientific means of creation. What he insists is that however creation came about – it was by God’s doing. He says, “God spoke a mere word and the birds are brought forth. If the Word is spoken, all things are possible.” That is Luther!
He explains, “Nothing – even raising the dead – is comparable to the wonderful work of producing a bird. We do not wonder at these things, because through our daily association with them we have lost our wonderment. But if anyone believes them and regards them more attentively, they are compelled to wonder at them, and their wonderment gradually strengthens their faith.”
Wonderment, and Abraham Heschel’s appreciation – are vital to seeing the world as God sees it – blessed and beautiful – down to the mouse and fly. There is nothing outdated in Luther’s lament, “We do not wonder at these things, because through our daily association with them we have lost our wonderment. But if [we] regard them more attentively, [we] are compelled to wonder.”
Then, in his wonderment, Luther turns to a hen. Luther writes, “The hen lays an egg; this she keeps warm while a living body comes into being in the egg. The philosophers reason that these events take place through the working of the sun and her belly. I grant this,” says Luther. “But the theologians say, far more reliably, that these events take place through the working of the Word, because it is said: “God blessed them and said: ‘Increase and multiply.’” (LW, Vol. 1, 53)
In a nut shell – or in this case – a hen’s egg, we get Luther’s grasp of God’s living Word. Luther concludes, “[God’s] Word is present in the very body of the hen and in all living creatures; the heat with which the hen keeps her eggs warm is the result of the divine Word, because if it were without the Word, the heat would be useless and without effect.”
This is Luther’s word and sacrament theology. It is not just the water, but the water and the word together – received in faith – that makes Baptism. In the same way, Holy Communion is not just the bread and wine, but the bread and wine with the word attached, received by faith in the heart of the recipient. Luther’s is a richly incarnate understanding of our sacramental life. It is not just the elements, but the elements with the word attached to that which we can see, feel, taste and smell and have our faith aroused by that word incarnate – in the flesh, for our receiving. Likewise, God comes as a babe – God’s word to us. Luther is consistent throughout.
May we regain our wonderment that creation is nothing less than the expressed Word of Almighty God! And may we show our appreciation by not walking by the color purple or any other gift of creation without reverence and delight. “In God’s hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all that breathes.”
Amen
+Pastor Peg Schultz-Akerson, to the glory of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, CA