Homily for Blessing of Animals 9-30-2012

A Homily for Feast of St. Francis (Trans) and the Blessing of the Animals,  September 30, 2012  All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC                          Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Galatians 6:14-18                                Matthew 11:25-30

From the Gospel, Jesus says to us, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,  and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  

Last Sunday at this time my dog was waiting in my office with the door closed for the service to get over. His name is Yoda and we got him from the shelter about a month ago. 

 We are his third owners since he likes to do escapes, climbing over and under fences, and he still won’t master the command “come”. Well, he got bored chewing up little plastic pieces under my desk, and so when a person opened the door and came into my office, Yoda shot out for daylight, made it through the office wing door, and headed for the joy of sniffing all over the place. I was just getting out of the service when someone came up to me and said they saw my dog running through the church’s side yard and over to the street. I rushed to where they had pointed and could see him nowhere in sight. But others saw him crossing over to the labyrinth and then - up past the marsh and then -into the adjoining neighborhood. My heart was racing because I knew he had no knowledge of avoiding cars, and 158 is just a block away. Finally a neighbor caught him, and I undid my belt to use as a leash and, holding my pants up with one hand, I led him back with the other and took him home. My feelings were a blur of anger, anxiety, fear, and frustration. We have only had the dog for a month and yet we love him. I had been hesitant to get another dog because I was afraid of another broken heart as well as the burden of having a pet. Attraction to anything is easy but all attraction fades and  it can either fade into neglect, or it can be replaced by habit or, if you are lucky and you work hard on it each day it can grow into love. Love is not what you feel but by what you do in sharing yokes and burdens.  

I brought a dog into our marriage, Frodo, who came into our lives while my daughter and I were leaving a covered dish supper at seminary. This abandoned puppy came up to us and tried to climb into our car and I said no, since I didn’t want the burden of another pet and was afraid he would break my heart because dogs don’t usually outlive us. My daughter pleaded how she would take care of him, and I held fast to the idea of putting up notices of a found puppy on the campus of the university and keeping him only for a couple days, for I was not in favor of putting up with the burden. 

Over the next sixteen years, he cost us money, time, some expensive medical procedures, a run-in with a skunk, and getting people to look after him when we had to go out of town.  There were times when he got out and rolled in horse manure, coming back home dripping wet.  And then he broke our hearts by dying. There were so many burdens and times when we were yoked to him, and yet I think he was a gift from God, and I saw all the burdens as light and the yoke as easy. Owning property is easy, but love is hard for love is what you do on a daily basis for the long haul. I never owned Frodo; I only loved and was loved.

 

Just a few months before Frodo died, a parishioner gave us a puppy as a peace offering to my wife. I said no, for the same two reasons of burden and heartache. Fourteen years later our hearts were broken again as Zoe died after years of spending money, time, frustration, and love of that burden that, at the end, I had to carry up and down the stairs, 44 pounds of what, echoing Elvis Presley, we called that “hunka, hunka of burning love”.  But that weight seemed light and the yoke seemed easy because she was a gift from God, and we were gifts to her. She blessed us and we blessed her. Every good yoked relationship I have had has called for me to carry some of the burden - church, friendships, marriage, children, family, and neighbors - but in light of love, the yoke is easy, the burden light. I never “owned” Zoe.  Owning would have been easy, but love is hard for love is what you do on a daily basis for the long haul. I only loved and was loved. 

 

Jesus did not come into the world to create a new religion full of rites and rules. He came to invite us into relationship with God in which we are able to see everything as a gift from God and to be gifts to God and neighbor. He invited us to change the way we look at things so that we might unleash the power of love through which all things are possible. God is not a dispenser of an invisible protective shield in the sky that will keep bad things from happening to us. Bad things will happen, life will be tough, but the promise is, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I don’t own Jesus as my personal religion, I only love and am loved on a daily basis for the long haul.

St Francis, who we remember today, is one of those who spent the first part of his life trying to project his ego onto the world and when he failed, he heard the invitation by Christ to accept the world as he could see it in a new way.  It was rough for him, he was scorned by many, but he looked at the world as a universe of gifts. He saw animals not as competitors or property but as opportunities to love. He saw lepers not as people to be shunned but neighbors to be loved. He gave up the burden of keeping up with his parents’ desires for him to succeed, and he gave himself as a gift to the world. He saw enemies not as opponents to be conquered but as potential lovers to be wooed into relationship. He saw the suffering of the world not as a fearful thing from which to flee but as an opportunity to bring healing and wholeness. He listened to all the messages of God from the bird song to the wind and the rain and thunder, he saw the light of Brother Sun and Sister Moon, and he was in awe of earth, water, fire and air, not seeing them as ordinary but as part of the universe of extraordinary blessing given to us.  And in response, we have the opportunity to be blessings. He saw enemies not as He did not see death as an abyss to be feared but as a sister to be embraced at the end of life. He saw time as not something to be killed but as a precious gift to live fully each moment. Each night as Francis prayed, out of love he wanted to know more about the yoked relationship between his soul and God’s spirit, and he would ask; “Lord who are you?” and “Who am I?” Francis did not own his mystical experiences with the Risen Lord as his personal property - that would have been easy - but he did the hard work of loving on a daily basis. He loved and was loved.

The Bible has all these stories of people who “once were blind but now could see” but entering into a relationship with God is having our vision changed so that we might not be blind to the blessings and gifts given to us each day and that we might be healed.  Today as we bless the animals, let me let you in on a secret - the animals do not need to be blessed so that they might be good property, for you can never really own your pet, you can only love and be loved, doing the hard work of love on a daily basis for the long haul. All we do is pronounce that they are blessings and that your eyes might be opened so that we might see them as blessings, and we invite you to see yourselves as blessings and gifts to the world, doing the hard work of love on a daily basis for the long haul. If you think that is too difficult, you are not in it alone; hear the words again. Jesus says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."