God, You, and Animal Kingdom

First Lutheran Church | Detroit Lakes, MN

Pentecost 12 | 08.23.2020 | Genesis

It might seem like just a cutesy thing to set aside a worship in which we bless our pets and farm animals – and to be sure, it is cute (and fun!) – but it is not trivial. What I mean by that is that blessing animals is a deeply Christian and profoundly biblical practice. As we read from Genesis, blessing animals was one of the first interactions and reflections that God had with creation.

In other words, animals are not just a fun accessory to our lives – that is not what today is about. Rather, today, is about taking our cue from Scripture to remind ourselves the sacred value of the animal kingdom.

We can understand this, of course, in terms of its utility: animals provide us food, clothing, and even transportation; they give us companionship; they provide therapeutic healing for veterans of war and for residents in long-term care facilities; some animals can even sniff out people buried in avalanches (I always use that one in the cat/dog debate); other animals provide cures for diseases (for instance, venom from snakes is used in some cancer treatments!). On the whole, animals sustain the balance of whole ecosystems upon which we rely (for instance, the recent reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park actually stopped river erosion!—with the presence of wolves the population of deer was restored to normal levels; with fewer deer, the vegetation along river banks increased, thereby slowing a disastrous erosion pattern!). This all points to the sacred value of animals.

And beyond their usefulness to human beings, animals not only have value for what they provide and do…they have value in and of themselves, just for existing—and this is asserted by God! In Genesis, God looked at the animal kingdom upon their creation and declared them good.

On that note, consider this: in Genesis when God calls animals good, the word good is translated from the Hebrew word tov (cf. mazel tov!). But the English translation of good makes it sound like God thinks animals are merely ‘satisfactory.’ Whereas the Hebrew word tov can also mean “Luxurious,” or “joyous,” or “cheerful.”[1] In other words, as God looked upon the natural world and reflected, God was having a deeply awe-filled and joyful moment; really, God looked upon the creation and was saying, Wow! (cf. Pr. Chris Berger).

Not only that, in our Genesis passage today God admits that something about creation was missing without animals. God assessed the state of things after creating humankind, and God said—it is not good for humankind to be alone (Genesis 2:18), and how does God remedy this disorder? How does God cure aloneness? God created animals. So, this means that God found a world of just humans to be incomplete, at a deficit, a problem that needed solving, and the sacred solution was? —…animals.

From the very first chapters of our Bible, God authors the idea of an ecosystem and advocates for its balance and God impresses Godself by creating animals. And God did not create animals to merely entertain humankind with a petting zoo. Rather, according to Genesis, God created animals to ensure a sacred goodness within creation.

So, my friends, as we bless and acknowledge animals today, doing so is not some peripheral piece of our Christianity. Therefore, caring about animals and God’s earth ought not be caricatured and dismissed as some hippy-dippy virtue and spirituality, or some politically motivated ideology.

Blessing the natural world and the animals that God has made is at the HEART of our faith. It is FUNDAMENTAL to Christianity.

How fundamental? The Apostles’ Creed is supposed to be the summarizing expression of our faith and what we emphasize as the central beliefs, right? Well, what does the Creed have in its very first line? What does the Creed make sure we acknowledge as we claim to be Christian? The Creed makes sure that we confess that the earth itself comes from God, and thereby confess that the natural world is sacred.

Furthermore, we are called to regard animals this way because it is how God regards them. For instance, think of the flood story. We’ve heard the story so many times, perhaps we’ve become desensitized to the fact that God not only establishes a monumental covenant of relationship and redemption to human beings, but also to the entire animal kingdom!—and not just the animal kingdom, but all the earth! In the passage from Genesis: God hangs the bow in the clouds, and says—“…it shall be sign of covenant between me and the earth” (Gen 9:13). So, the rainbow is not just for you and me, but a promise of divine love for the animals and all of the natural world.

Not only does God love animals, but God also uses animals to reveal God’s glory to us. In the book of Job, it is said that animals teach us about God and who God is! (Job 12:7-8):

⁷ ‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
⁸ …and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

 Not only in the Job story, but from the Exodus to our Psalm today, God uses nature to describe God’s self. Perhaps one of the greatest saving acts in all of Scripture—the Exodus—how does God describe Godself in liberating the Israelites? To quote God in Exodus: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4).

Think about that!…In describing one of the most divine and gracious acts, God uses the imagery of a mother eagle. Think about that!…To describe God at God’s best, God finds that only the imagery of nature will measure up; only the imagery of an animal will do in communicating the power, glory, and love of God.

Even Jesus does this as he asks us in Matthew 6 to ‘Consider the lilies of the field’ to understand how God loves and provides for us.

Time and time again, God in Scripture maintains a profoundly committed esteem for animals and the natural world, and therefore our call to bless, care for, and steward it.

We were given all of this – the natural world, our beloved and helpful animals – for free and out of love. Creation’s very existence, the existence of animals, is an act of divine grace to humankind…and, my friends, to whom much is given, much is expected.

With that, today, from the heart of our biblical faith, we give thanks for and we bless our animals. Amen.

 

     [1] David J.A. Clines, David Stec, and Jacqueline C.R. de Roo, The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, ed. David J.A. Clines (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009), 139-140.