FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER CREATION DAY
6 October 2013
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Eccl. 3:19: “That which happens to the sons of men happens to animals… As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals.”
Matt. 12:11: Jesus said: “What man… who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it, and lift it out?”
Reflection
Many churches today are celebrating “The Blessing of Animals”, in which churchgoers can bring their pets or companion animals to have them receive a blessing in the church. The Season of Creation originally ends with “Animal Sunday”, the Sunday before the feast of St. Francis (4 Oct). However, I’ve decided to follow the mainstream church practice of observing “Animal Sunday” on the Sunday nearest 4 Oct, and keeping the previous Sunday with the “heavenly host” themes, as it’s nearest to the feast of St. Michael and All Angels.
Animals don’t get their proper credit, even in the Bible. Apart from being portrayed as mere food for humans or sacrifices for God, they also are used to represent lower characteristics or value. Thus, after discussing how pervasive wickedness is on earth, humans are called “animals” in Ecclesiastes, in a tone that mirrors our modern insult. Even Jesus, who, we might remember, leaves the 99 sheep to find the missing one; who today uses a sheep in danger as a lesson in compassion over law, even he ends with: “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep!”
I suppose it’s natural for us to think of ourselves as superior to animals. They appear simply to exist. With regards to language, culture, civilization, literature, even self-awareness—all those things which we imagine are indicators of an advanced species—animals have a very basic expression of the first two, a non-existent expression of the next two, and who knows about that last one. They live primarily on instinct. What little forethought they may have is governed by their natural impulses of mating and feeding.
And yet we read that “man has no advantage over the animals.” We all have “one breath”. In fact, the word “animal” means ‘that creature which is animate, which has a soul’. “I know every rock and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name”, Disney’s Pocahontas sings. It’s possible both to disagree and to agree with this biblical verse. Humanity certainly has many obvious advantages over animals. But in all the things that truly matter, we are the same. For all our advances, we all still must breathe, eat, sleep, and eventually die.
Life, in all its diverse forms, is still life. But, as people of faith, we claim that life comes from the God of all life. If our capacities to reason, to plan, to cooperate do make us “superior”—even give us an advantage over—animals, then our faith charges us not to use this superiority for our own benefit, but for the benefit of all of God’s creatures. Animals may mercilessly and thoughtlessly take each other’s lives for food, but if we are to continue consuming animals (and I don’t plan on giving up meat except on Lent!), then our “superior” capacities entrusts us to do so with mercy, with forethought, with humaneness.
Even if a person is worth more than the sheep that fell into the well on the Sabbath, that sheep was still worthy enough to be pulled out, to be rescued, to be saved.
Prayer of the Day
O God,
you have made us and all living things.
You are even more wonderful
than what you have made.
We thank you for giving us
animals who bring us companionship and joy.
As you take care of us,
may we, with your help,
take care of those who trust us to look after them,
so that we may share
in your own love for all creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
—adapted from “A Service for the Blessing of Animals” on http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Shop--ToDo/Religion/BlessingOfAnimals.htm
Hymn: “All things bright and beautiful”
(Words: Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818-1895
Tune: ‘Royal Oak’, from The Dancing Master, 1686; adapted by Martin Fallas Shaw, 1875-1958; descant by Richard Proulx, b. 1937)
Refrain:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
Refrain
The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
Refrain
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
Refrain
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
Refrain
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