Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
Today we gather together with our
beloved pets, fellow creations of our heavenly Father, and we join together
with them in praise of our God. We
worship with them outside, surrounded by God’s wonderful creation and the birds
and animals of the world as well. Just
as in the reading from Revelation today, we gather alongside our brothers and
sisters of Creation to praise God and to thank God for all that God has done
for us and continues to do for us. Praise
the Lord! We give thanks to God for all
that God has done for us, and for all the gifts that God has given to His
creation! Our Psalm today speaks of all
people and all creatures worshipping God together, thanking God for creating us
and for caring for each and every one of us.
And we can call creatures our brothers
and sisters, because we are all born of the same Father, God, and we are all
created from the same dust. Each living
thing, from the smallest ant to the blue whale, all created by our loving God,
who created us for one another. Not so
that we may use and abuse each other, but that we may enjoy one another’s
company and be a blessing to one another.
Our Genesis reading tells us that all creatures were created in the hope
that we as humans would not be alone, that they were created that we may be in
community with them. Not so that they
could be subservient beings, but that they we may be in community together and
support one another.
Of course, that ideal was not met in
this Genesis story. Instead, Adam is put
to sleep by God and a rib is taken from him to create woman, in order that she
may be his partner. And their live are
connected beyond words or feelings, because they are flesh of the same flesh
and bone of the same bone. While the
creatures are like brothers and sisters to Adam, the woman is the same being. There is a reason that we humans do not marry
our dogs and cats, but instead are called to one another as partners in life,
to share our dreams and our sorrows and our pleasure. We are designed for one another. Our entire civilization is built on the fact
that humanity is built to be together, and not alone. We are called to be in community, in order
that we may serve and help one another instead of having to go through life
isolated. We also worship God together,
because united we are able to rejoice all the more, not only for God’s creation
of us and our relationship with God, but also because we can be thankful for
one another, for the blessings that we give one another through our mere
presence.
This blessing though carries into
the rest of creation as well. While we
may not be as closely knit together with our brothers and sisters in the animal
kingdom, we are still united, still related through God. Albert Einstein once said that “Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our
circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and
its beauty.” Oftentimes, freedom can be
misinterpreted into the ability to do whatever it is that we want to do. But when we fall into that hole, in which we
become self-serving, we find ourselves unable to find complete
contentment. On the other hand, when we
free ourselves from focusing on ourselves, when we begin to show compassion to
a wider and wider circle, we become more fulfilled. There is no sight greater than seeing someone
who has just gone to help someone. Nor are
there more inspiring people than those who give of themselves and their time to
show compassion. When one sees love in
another’s eyes, we can not help but be moved to love more ourselves as well.
It can be hard of us to think about our fellow
creatures as rejoicing in God and being part of our family. So often they can be seen as a nuisance, as
something that must be removed from our houses and our yards, or as trophies to
be placed on mantles, or merely an inconvenience as we search for oil and gas. With our pesticides and mousetraps, with the
way that we consume other creatures as food or we destroy their homes in search
for energy, we decimate our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow creations
of God. We are all born out of the same
dust and were created for one another, to be helpers and friends. Our Genesis reading tells us of another
connection between us and all creatures as well, as Adam gets to name each
creature as it is created. Much as a
parent gets to name their child, so Adam has this connection to each creature,
gets to be a part of the birthing process of each individual creation.
We
can have a tendency to view of ourselves as vastly more important than our
brothers and sisters in the animal kingdom.
After all, we are humans, created in the image of God, filled with
intelligent thought and the ability to create vast cities. Our comfort becomes our guiding force, our
God, as we destroy the world around us in order to gain that comfort. Yet since we are created in the Image of God,
and we are set as co-creators with God, it seems that our priorities should shift
a bit. Instead of focusing on our own
comforts and desires, maybe we need to take a more global view, past even that
of what our fellow humans need, which we of course care greatly about and try
to aid whenever we can, but also look at the world and creation and see ways
that we can care for it better. Perhaps
we can widen our compassion towards all of creation, as Einstein tells us to
do.
After
all, If we are in fact followers of God, then should we not care for His
creation as He does? Just as God gives
food and shelter to the wild animals, to all creeping things and birds of the
air, and creatures of the sea, should we not strive to make sure that they get
that food and that shelter, instead of taking them away in order to put money
in our pockets or to get to resources, like gas and oil? George Bernard Shaw once said “The worst sin towards our fellow creatures
is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That's the essence of
inhumanity.” This is not a sin
just against our brothers and sisters of this world, but it is a sin against
God, for we not only damage his creation but show an indifference to it when we
proclaim that we need not worry about some animals getting in the way of our
progress or fail to give their lives the respect that they so rightly deserve
as children of God.
We have an amazing blessing and opportunity from
God, which is the world around us. In it
we can see the many wonders of God, from the ways that the insects help
pollinate the flowers and the trees that give our eyes beauty to see and our
bellies food to eat, to the way that birds fly together through the sky, to
work together to migrate to new places each year, to the way that our pets
teach us how to love more completely and honestly than many humans could ever
possible even imagine. So may we rejoice
alongside our brothers and sisters throughout creation, rejoicing both for the
love and care of our Creator as well as the fulfillment we may find in living
together.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment