Sermon on Matthew 6:25-34

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Being humans, we tend to be pretty human-centric at church. We sometimes picture God as a human man with a big white beard. We picture salvation as something just for humans.

We assume loving our neighbor means loving our human neighbors and don’t always have imagination for what it might mean to love our non-human-animal neighbors or our plant neighbors, soil neighbors, ocean neighbors, or even algae neighbors. We sometimes act like humans are the only important lives and relationships that exist.

Yet, we’re interdependent. God created a beautiful web of life, not just a static backdrop for a stage dominated by humans. There are other actors: animals big and small, all kinds of plants, fungi, even the bacteria in our guts that I try not to think too much about but am very happy is there. We couldn’t survive without each other.

And it’s not always just about survival—we can genuinely enjoy relationships with the non-human world. This can take many forms, but since we’re doing a blessing of the animals today, we’ll focus on our relationships with our pets.

Pets can be some of the most important beings in our lives. They’re with us day in and day out, seeing the most mundane and intimate parts of our lives without judgment (generally). They miss us when we’re gone, greet us when we return home, snuggle with us, comfort us when we’re sad, and sometimes insist on playing with us, even when we’re trying to write a sermon…Thank you, Clara.

For many of us, a pet’s death was our first experience of grief. It’s a paradigm-shattering experience to encounter the reality of death for the first time. And yet, people so often downplay the death of a pet, saying things like, “you can just get another dog,” or “why are you still sad—it’s been a whole week!”

But, just like the death of a human, a pet’s personality can’t be replaced. The time spent, memories created, and trust built can’t just transfer to a new pet like downloading your photos from an old phone to a new one. The loss is real, the grief is real, the love of our pets is real. Yet, society doesn’t always treat them that way.

Even Jesus in our Gospel reading suggested that humans are more important to God than birds: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

But perhaps rather than giving a factual hierarchy of creation, like one human equals53.25 birds, Jesus was just using our human-centered worldview in his attempt to turn us from our worries about God’s provision to focus instead on building Beloved Community, where there’s abundant life for all, like we talked about last week.

Jesus was using the more than human world to teach us self-centered humans to trust God, who takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and even the fleeting blades of grass. The natural world trusts God’s provision, not worrying about the latest fashions or diet craze, but doing what they were made for.

Animals have so much to teach us. Isaiah, too, used animal imagery to help us imagine God’s shalom, the peace that goes far beyond lack of war and instead brings wholeness to the world. Only in God’s shalom can the wolf live with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the baby goat, bears and lions graze likecows, and venomous snakes remain peacefully in their dens. This is what will happen, Isaiah tells us, when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

We need these images, because peace like that is hard to imagine. In my more cynical moments, I wonder if peace will come to animals first before humans will give up war. I don’t think we can get there without God. Thankfully God has a bigger imagination than I do.

Until the manifestation of God’s shalom and the fulfillment of the Beloved Community, I’ll cuddle my cat and try to be as lovable as she seems to find me.

While every animal has its own personality, in general, our pets past and present can help us remember God’s unconditional love. Our pets love us even when we flub the presentation at work or forget our friend’s birthday or get broken up with. They don’t care what our hair looks like, what car we drive, or how much money we make (as long as there’s room in the budget for treats).

They can be role models for us in focusing on what’s really important: relationships, affection, andlove—all components of shalom and Beloved Community.

Someone shared a poem by Angi Sullins online that perfectly illustrates God’s unconditional love:

god is a dog

not metaphorically

not in some poetic

kind of way

I mean literally

panting

drooling

wiggling

grace with paws

god doesn’t sit up

in some cosmic control tower

judging your calories

and catastrophes

nope

god is under the table

hoping you’ll drop

a potato chip

and when you do

she doesn’t say

“too bad that’s trans fat”

she says

“holy wow thank you

that was delicious

I love you

I love you

I LOVE YOU”

you stumble

in the door

after screwing up everything

again

and god bolts toward you

like you’re the best thing

that ever happened to Tuesday

she doesn’t care

that you yelled in traffic

or forgot to return the call

or ate the entire pint

of Ben & Jerry’s

with a spoon

that still had peanut butter on it

she just wants

to sit in your lap

and sniff your face

and listen

I don’t know about your theology

but mine’s built on

salty snacks

dark chocolate

and the unshakable truth

that mercy wears a collar

and chews socks

when you’re crying

in bed at 3 a.m.

when you feel like

a burnt piece of toast

that no one wanted anyway

god jumps up beside you

licks your tears

and falls asleep with her nose

in your armpit

not because you smell good

'cuz chances are you don’t

but because

that’s where you are

and god always

wants to be where you are

she’s not interested

in your five-year plan

she’s not keeping score

she doesn’t care if you meditate

or hydrate or

know the number

for your senator

she just wants to be with you

god is a dog

and love

real love

has fur on the furniture

and forgiveness in the eyes

that’s all the theology I need

So today, at the beginning of National Pet Month, as we bless our animals, remember how much we have been blessed by the great pack, clowder, flock, nest, warren of witnesses and our great God who had wisdom enough to know we need their example and boundless love to help us connect with our unconditionally loving God.