29 September 2008
Beloved in God and Thomas the Apostle:
;)
The Annual Blessing of Our Animals will be on St. Francis’ Day, Saturday, October 4th at Noon in the Garden. Bring your animals, properly restrained, and we will gather there to bless them.Driving in this morning with Hilda Clare riding in the back seat as usual, I wondered whether we have this rite all wrong. Once a year we come together with our “pets” to bless them. All the other days of the year, without any fanfare, they quietly bless us with their love and touch in ways that enhance our lives and show us a great deal of the love of their (and our) Maker.
To bless something, we can use words, but the real blessing comes through what the Church calls “the laying on of hands.” Touch. How often do our pets touch us with their bodies and bless us in doing so? How often do we benefit from their gentle presence when our day may have been harried or trying? They communicate God’s very love in their love for us. We need to learn how to do that as well as they do in our interaction with them and other humans.
God’s love, God’s blessing, flows from God to all of the creation all the time. God does not discriminate. The Divine Love knows no limits, no exceptions, and no hesitation. It emanates from God toward all God has created. You and I (and our animals) are supposed to be channels of that Divine Love. As I said in my homily a couple of weeks ago, I fear that the animals may do a better job of sharing God’s love than we humans may do. They have much to teach us.
Still, on St Francis’ Day we will gather to bless them. Perhaps it is the Animals who do the blessing of us. If we could learn to love as they do, our world would be a better place.
Don't forget LifeWalk
This coming Sunday members of the parish will participate in the annual LifeWalk to raise money to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS. Some among us have raised money; many will walk; all of us need to support this effort to do our part in bringing help to those who continue to need it. It is not too late to put on your tenny boots and join the gang. If you still have monies to turn in, Carol will gladly take it from you Sunday. If you bought a David Schulze LifeWalk “T” shirt, they are available now.
Every year around this time, NPR has one of its pledge drives…90.1. It almost always coincides with the start up of our own Stewardship Pledge drive. My fantasy this time of the year is that we commandeer the airwaves and drive our own members nuts with constant reminders about their need to send in their pledge if they want a Church on this corner next year. What works with 90.1 is that one eventually sends in a pledge in the hope that it will put them over “the top” and bring the drive to a close. The difference is this: There is no close to our drive. We are glad to take your pledges anytime. They are due October 26th on the altar in order for us to craft a budget for 2009. Like 90.1, we cannot live without them.
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