Oct. 25 Sermon: Blessing of the Animals
“Let Them Praise the Name of the Lord”
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd, Holy Covenant UMC
October 25, 2009 for Blessing of the Animals
Psalm 148
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
What do you hear today?
We certainly hear the familiar sounds of Sunday morning worship: the sounds of the keyboard and our voices lifted in song, the sounds of the children laughing and talking during TFYC, the sounds of prayer, both private and communal, sounds of scripture…we’ll hear the doxology after the sermon. And, of course, we hear the train, our constant companion in this space (still not quite used to speaking over it/with it, but I’m trying…), add in the sounds of the radiators now that it’s cold outside.
We also today hear unfamiliar sounds, sounds that normally fill our houses and dog parks and yards, but that we’re not used to hearing at church: barking and chirping and meowing. The sound of paws crawling and slipping along the wood floors, of people trying to calm their animals. It’s a noisy day here at Holy Covenant, filled with all kinds of sounds to awaken our senses.
Our Psalm for the day, Psalm 148, is filled with sounds. Some sounds are familiar—familiar to our worship life on Sunday mornings: the sounds of women and men, the young and the old, the rulers and the people, all praising God together. But many of the sounds are strange to our ears, outside the realm of usual worship: Sounds of hills and trees, wild animals and cattle, creeping things and flying birds; some sounds are even outside of our limited experience, we can’t quite fathom these sounds actually sound like: angels and sea monsters, waters above the heavens, the sounds of stars?
This Psalm is a glorious symphony, of all creation, from the depths of the sea to the waters above the heavens, singing out in praise to God. This text paints a vivid picture of creation coming together, in one voice, all opening up towards God. It’s beautiful, magnificent, awesome….and it is strange. Almost as strange as having animals in worship.
When we look closely at this text, we wonder what it’s really saying to us, what sounds are actually coming forth. It is strange indeed… it forces us to ask…how do the sun and moon praise God? What does it sound like for cedars to sing songs of worship? For hills to proclaim the glory and goodness of God? For critters to cry out in ecstasy? For fire and hail, snow and frost to shout to the ends of the earth with praise? I haven’t been around snow yet, but y’all are experts, and I may be wrong and a naïve southerner, but I don’t think snow actually sings songs.
What does it sound like for all of these non-human parts of creation to sing praise to God? It’s certainly not like any sounds we’re used to hearing in a worship service. When we think of the sounds of praise, we think of piano, voices singing hymns and spirituals, hands clapping, prayers being lifted up from our mouths, even prayers being said in the silence and contemplation of our hearts.
We don’t think of hills and trees and bugs and fire and hail and sea monsters. And we don’t think of dogs and cats and hamsters and lizards. But here we are, on a Sunday morning, in a sanctuary filled with all kinds of pets, praising God as a community.
What’s happening here? Can our pets actually praise God?
I have a miniature poodle, Charlie. He’s not exactly a fierce watchdog, but he is a sweet and adorable companion. I adopted him 5 ½ years ago and he’s been with me from Texas to Georgia and now here in Chicago, happy and adaptable in each place. You all know the kind of joy that pets bring to our lives..the excitement they share when you come home from work or an out of town trip, the way they curl up beside you on the couch on a cold day, the fun of watching a hamster roll around your floor in a ball, rabbits who teach us about delight. They also, of course, can be a pain…they need to go out in the middle of the night, when it’s 20 degrees, we have to find sitters when we are out of town, they even, occasionally, go to the bathroom on our floors. But in spite of all this, we bring them into our homes, they become a part of our families. And we love them. And they love us back. This is part of the reason we are blessing them today—recognizing that they share love and companionship with us and giving thanks for all they give and mean to us and our families.
But is this really praising God? Even though my dog is a preacher’s kid, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t believe in God. (Or, maybe it’s because he’s a preacher’s kid…) I’ve often heard of God’s love compared to a dog’s love: unconditional, full of forgiveness, always waiting for us when we’ve left home. But like any metaphor for God, this one falls short. In fact, it is shallow and I am always offended on God’s behalf when this comparison is made. Yes, God’s love is unconditional. But it is so much more…God is the ultimate creator of all that is and was and ever will be; God’s love is not sentimental or forgetful…yes, it is fierce and unconditional, but it is also deeply embedded with justice, mercy, and peace. Anyone who’s ever watched a dog chase a squirrel knows that they aren’t concerned with creating a peaceful world, or caring for the marginalized. As humans, we know that to praise God, we must recognize the vastness of God’s grace and mystery and power, the call of God’s justice and love and mercy. And knowing all this means we are called to go out into the world and make a difference—to seek God, love all people, and change the world. This is how we praise God. But our pets aren’t cognizant of God in this way.
But when we go back to the Psalm, yes, it provides a beautiful picture of humans praising, but it insists that things and creatures that aren’t cognizant of God as we are, still praise. It calls, even demands, that all of creation praise: Let them praise the name of the Lord!
Can a hill do anything? Is a hill cognizant of God? Are bugs and wind and fish and cedar trees and fruit trees aware that they are praising? Not in the way we are.
And yet hear, in the very heart of Scripture, in the Bible’s hymnbook, we have hills praising God. Can anyone who has ever seen the sun rise deny that an act of praise is beautifully before them? And that’s the thing about praise…the sun praises God by doing exactly what God created the sun to do. And fruit trees praise God by producing fruit. Sea monsters even praise God, by being whatever it is exactly that God calls sea monsters to do. Hills praise God by being what they were created to be..bearers of trees and grass and deer; the sun praises by rising and the moon by casting a glow each and every night. The rain by pouring down.
God’s hand, God’s image, God’s creative power is in every single facet of creation. And so creation, by living out it’s call just to be what God created, is praising God’s wonderful works.
This is what the incarnation teaches us, the center of our faith—God came to earth as a human being, in the flesh, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And by coming to earth God shows God’s love for creation by living in it, dwelling among us; God was born in a stable with donkeys and sheep and oxen communed intimately with nature.
Our pets praise God by their very being…when they roll over for a belly rub or find that perfect place to nap in the sun. And how beautiful, what a gift for us, that we can look around us, wherever we are, whenever we want, and witness so much beautiful praise. Because it’s all around us. God works through creation and that is worth praising.
And here’s the good news for us: if creation praises by being who and what God created it to be…so too do we praise every time we live into the fullness of our creation. For we know we are created in the image of God, wonderfully and fearfully made, as beloved children. Children called to love, mercy, and justice. So we praise, not just when we lift our voices in song in church, but when every time we live in just relationship with the rest of the world and one another.
May we leave this place hearing praise: opening our ears to God in all of creation, creation that praises by being; being all that God created the world to be; and may we praise God, yes, here in church, but in all that we do, by responding to God’s call on our life to be who God created us to be: signs of justice, mercy, peace, and love in a world that needs us.
Let us all praise God, in all we do. There is no more beautiful sound! Amen.
