Blessing of Pets

A Reflection on the Feast of St. Francis (transferred) All Saints Church, Southern Shores, NC September 24, 2017 Thomas E. Wilson Rector

Question for meditation: How did you care for God’s creation this week?

Exodus 16:2-15 Matthew 11:25–30 Matthew 20:1-16

Blessing of Pets

Today we are going a little out of sequence - 11 whole days - and we remember St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is October 4. The Stewardship Committees over the years thought that our annual celebration of St. Francis when we bless our pets might be a tad rough to do on the same day as the breakfast kickoff of our annual Stewardship pledge drive. I think I understand how difficult it is to juggle that many balls in the air at the same time. But when I looked at the lessons for today, I could only see a Stewardship theme. Heck, every week has a Stewardship theme; but I’ll get to that.

The Gospel passage from Matthew for the Feast of St. Francis Day is the time when Jesus invites the disciples to make the decision to follow him: “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.”

They are asked to accept the yoke of being connected to Jesus and to help carry the burden of love. They are asked to give themselves away, to no longer belong just to themselves but to Christ. To make a decision to love is to give oneself away. Francis had lived his youth as a pampered selfish child, and when he grew up, there was an emptiness in him when he realized that all he loved was himself. When he made the decision to follow Christ, he made the commitment to love what Jesus loved. He became a steward —I told you we would get back to it – of the poor, of the stranger, of the animals, of the environment, of all creation. Jesus had given his life to be a steward of his father’s creatures, and Francis dedicated himself to do the work of Christ in this world. When he made a decision to love, his life did not belong to himself alone; he was not his own person to do what he wanted and not care about any other person. To love means to belong to someone or something else.

I did keep two of the lessons which we would have heard this Sunday as a way of keeping on with the Hebrew Testament saga of Moses and the people in the wilderness. They were worried that they wouldn’t have enough, but God out of love, gave them all they needed; they were given daily bread. This passage was important to Francis for he went out into the world each day depending on God’s love to change hearts, to be the providing of food to meet Francis and his disciples needs, their daily bread.

One of the ways I learned that lesson when I was a child was when my father, who was working as a civil engineer building the Indiana Turnpike at the time we were living in Ohio, brought home a medium- sized black mutt who had been abandoned. My mother, having her hands full with four children (my older brother was 7, I was six, my sister 4, and my little brother one), was not thrilled at the prospect. However, the three who could speak begged her to relent. She listed all the things we would need to do if we wanted Rex the Wonder dog, as we named him, to abide with us. We made the promises and we all lost part of ourselves on that day as we took on the yoke and helped carry the burden. We became stewards of Rex that day, for he did not belong to us – rather we belonged to him. Rex died of old age when I was a senior in high school and he had been well loved - we can only be a steward of something we love. When we became stewards, we found it was a lot of work and heartache, it wasn’t easy, and at times it was a heavy burden, but we also found that, on the whole, love made the yoke easy and the burden seem light.

Having a pet and a series of pets in my lifetime started me off being a steward and gradually learning that loving responsibility, literally the ability to respond with love, meant the world does not revolve around me. I find my own meaning by giving myself away for something greater than myself.

Now some of you might suspect that I am avoiding the Gospel lesson for the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost which would have been from the 20^th chapter of Matthew where there the landowner pays his laborers the same rate even though they worked different hours. Those who worked all day felt resentful that, while they had agreed to work for the usual daily wage, those who worked significantly fewer hours got the same wage. This might seem unfair and in violation of the Fair Wage and Standards Act which governs our economc systems. The word “economy” comes from two Greek words for household and rules; economics means House Rules. Jesus is making a point that the way that God rules the universe is not based on merit but Grace. Every one of those workers needed to make it through the day and the landowner paid out of love, out of his own pocket, out of his own profit margin, paying the living wage, the daily bread to all. God asks us to make our House Rules about sharing life and love, not out of profit but out of love. The landowner dies to himself in order to give love.

Jesus said that we learn how to live into God’s Kingdom on earth, the heaven of God, in this place and time, by dying to oneself. The way of dying is to give parts of ourselves away so that we no longer live only for ourselves and we share life and love.

Blessing of Pets

My dogs made me a much better person

when they reminded me that I’m not the

center of universe, a fat posh maharaja.

or honored Poohbah; just a layperson,

a servant called to love them and care

on schedule, daily, every day by gosh,

walk, feed, play and scratch, and wash

as needed, agreeing to share bed, chair,

couch or rugs to soak up the warm sun.

My reward is knowing I’m the steward,

not an owner of life, called as I heard

to love and to share as my father’s son.

Rex, Zeke, Molly, Frodo, Zoe, and Yoda,

taught me to hum notes of God’s coda.