Scripture: Psalm 148
Preached 08/31/2014- Blessing of the Animals Sunday
What happens when kittens come to class? That’s what one seminary professor wanted to find out. Or, maybe she really just wanted an excuse to bring her two newly adopted kittens to work with her. Whatever the reason, one day, seminary students were surprised to enter their usual classroom and find two adorable little balls of fur roaming around. So, to answer the question, what happened?
Pretty much exactly what could be expected. The kittens wandered about, up and down the aisles. They jumped on tables, they rubbed against legs, they lounged in the sun and they chased after toys. And classroom full of graduate students, future pastors of America and several other countries, 20-60 something year old adults, basically turned into little children. They cooed, they watched, they petted and played with the kittens. They also paid no attention to the professor, who had fired up a PowerPoint and moved to the front of the room. She actually had to shout to get their attention.
“When God created animals, did God create kittens?” she called out. A chorus of assents came forth- yes, sure, of course- God made kittens. “So kittens are God’s creations, God’s creatures, and God calls them good and is pleased with them?” Again, this was a softball question, the kind you jump on so you don’t have to answer the hard ones later, and again her question was met with a chorus of different versions of yes. Then, she started reading the psalm that Grant just read for us. Remember, the psalm that called for everything and everyone in heaven and on earth to praise God? “Praise the Lord, animals, cattle, creeping things, and flying birds.”
“Are kittens included here?” the professor asked. The students started to realize that this series of questions was actually going somewhere a little harder. The chorus of “yes’s” was a little slower this time. “So these kittens,” the professor continued, “are supposed to praise God. How do kittens praise God?” Silence descended on the room, broken only by occasional purring and mewing by the two kittens. The students pondered the question. How do kittens praise God?
It’s a tricky one, huh? Much of what we associate with praising God is exclusively human activity, right? We humans praise God in worship, like this morning. We praise God through our prayers, our songs, and our responses to scripture. We praise God through the money we put in the offering plates. We praise God through taking care of God’s creation, through sharing fellowship, through thoughts and words and deeds. We praise God through specific, conscious actions that are pretty far outside the reach of a kitten, or a dog or a rabbit or a cow for that matter.
We don’t expect animals to come to the sanctuary each week. They aren’t going to sing a hymn. They can’t put money in the plate, they can’t form words of prayer, and it’s pretty doubtful that they even have the cognitive capacity to conceptualize the existence of a higher being, of God. So how do kittens praise God? . . . And the silence descends here too!
As the silence grew longer in the seminary classroom, the students thought. They avoided the gaze of the professor. And finally, one bold student came up with an answer. “They praise God by being themselves. God created them. God loves who they are, and God delights in them embracing that and fully being who God created them to be. So, in giving God reason to delight in them, just by being the kittens they are, they praise God.”
It was a good answer. The kind of answer I wish I could have come up with but can’t take credit for- this wasn’t even my seminary, let alone my class or my answer. Kittens praise God by being who they were created to be. By lounging in the sun. By purring, by nuzzling, by playing. By being fascinated by laser pointers, and digging into the carpet with their claws. They praise God by embracing and living out their kitten-ness to the fullest sense.
Puts a different spin on praise, huh? Not just for kittens, but for us too. Everything I mentioned before- coming to the sanctuary, singing songs, praying prayers, returning money to God, all that stuff is still praise, and still good. But what if kittens can teach us something? What if they teach us that what we think of as worship isn’t all of it? What if we, too, can worship God like kittens do?
By simply being ourselves- the creatures God created us to be.
I know this is a hard one for Presbyterians, but for us too, there are ways to praise God outside this sanctuary, and outside the weekly worship experience. Our entire lives can praise God, if we let them reflect our created purpose. We can play. We can enjoy. We can lounge and frolic and relish life, and just not think about any of our self-imposed “supposed to’s” for a while. But to be fair, we don’t get off quite as easy as kittens do. Lounging in the sun and playing around can be part of how we praise God in our everyday lives, but there is in fact more. Because if we go back to Genesis, to our creation stories, we find that unlike other creatures we are given a purpose that is bigger than simply multiplying and filling the earth.
We humans were given special abilities. And we were given a special responsibility too. We are to be the caretakers for the rest of creation. So- those of you who garden, congratulations, you’re already praising God in your every day life. Those of you who care for pets, you’re already doing this too. Those of you who have helped out the people in need in Ferguson or anywhere else, you’re already praising God in your life outside the sanctuary. Through recycling, through biking instead of driving, through feeding the birds or the ducks, through teaching our children about the wonders of nature or simply getting out there and reveling in it yourself, you are praising God. Through your donations to the humane society, Feed My People and Isaiah 58, the bracelets you’ve made for Crisis Aid, you’ve praised God.
And I know each and every one of you has so many more examples you could give of ways you praise God outside this place- through sheer enjoyment, through being that care taker, that beloved care-taker that God created you to be. You already know what to do, and you already know how to do it because it is your very essence. The challenge here may be simply to revel in who you have been created to be. Not to act, to think, to pray, to give out of a sense of guilt or compulsion, but out of joy at those things being part of who God created you to be. To play, to rest, to enjoy fully, knowing that this too, praises God.
So when you leave this place, look at some kittens. Some birds, some squirrels, dogs, or rabbits. Watch them enjoy and revel in who they are. And then do your best to do the same. Be the creature you were created to be, and revel in it. Find joy in it. Find God in it. Amen.
