We are animals. Some Christians took Genesis too literally and believe that we did not evolve from other animals. We did. We are apes, apes with very little hair and oversized brains, who may be too clever for our own good. We are among the mammals, mammals are the animals that nurse and nurture our young. Like other mammals, our brains are wired for empathy. We can read the emotional signals of those we are in relationship with, so that we can care for each other well. That is a survival skill that mammals share, and that has lately spawned a brisk business in cute Youtube animal videos.
Unlike other mammals, though, we can tell ourselves stories about who deserves our care and who does not. We moderns have had the idea that the earth, the creatures on it, even some other people, are just things to be used, or problems to be solved, or even enemies. This disconnected way of seeing the world has helped create ecological devastation, wars, injustice, and epidemic depression. This is the thinking of power over, of empire.
Jesus invites us into a different kind of power: power with, and power for. “All my relations” is not a quaint attribution of human personality to the natural world. “All my relations” is a statement of deep truth that we ignore at our peril. Our well-being depends on the well-being of the earth and the lives on it. We need to tell this part of the Christian story.
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Brea Congregational United Church of Christ
November 11, 2018
All My Relations
Matt. 6:25-33 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look 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? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Last month I was at Sevenoaks Retreat Center at the foot of the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia. Hunting season had just opened, but the deer had somehow figured out that on the grounds of the retreat center they were safe. So a lot of deer were wandering the grounds. Everyone who walked before breakfast (not me) met deer along the trails. These deer were not tame, but one of my fellow students figured out that if she sang to them, she could get very close; they would not run away. Other people started singing to the deer, and it worked! Deer like to be sung to, who knew? That is true for other animals too, including people.
There was also a bear in residence at Sevenoaks. None of us saw it, but it was leaving “offerings” around the grounds. Some of the students starting talking about the bear as a threat, an enemy. This was ironic, since a major point of the retreat was to honor and learn from the power of nature. I spoke up for the bear; I said that in my understanding, if you respect a bear (and keep your food and garbage secure) the bear will respect you. That is true for other animals too, sometimes even including people.
Today we are borrowing from Native American people the phrase “All my relations.” This phrase honors the connection we have to the earth and the life on it. We especially acknowledge pets, those creatures that live with us, that are part of our immediate families. But we honor God, and we do justice, when we widen the circle to honor “all our relations”– the whole web of nature that surrounds us and sustains us.
We are animals. Some Christians took Genesis too literally and believe that we did not evolve from other animals. We did. We are apes, apes with very little hair and oversized brains, who may be too clever for our own good. We are among the mammals, mammals are the animals that nurse and nurture our young. Like other mammals, our brains are wired for empathy. We can read the emotional signals of those we are in relationship with, so that we can care for each other well. That is a survival skill that mammals share, and that has lately spawned a brisk business in cute Youtube animal videos.
Unlike other mammals, though, we can tell ourselves stories about who deserves our care and who does not. We moderns have had the idea that the earth, the creatures on it, even some other people, are just things to be used, or problems to be solved, or even enemies. This disconnected way of seeing the world has helped create ecological devastation, wars, injustice, and epidemic depression. This is the thinking of power over, of empire.
Jesus invites us into a different kind of power: power with, and power for. “All my relations” is not a quaint attribution of human personality to the natural world. “All my relations” is a statement of deep truth that we ignore at our peril. Our well-being depends on the well-being of the earth and the lives on it. We need to tell this part of the Christian story.
In the creation stories of Genesis and in Psalm 8, God sets humans to rule over nature. Humans do have a special ability among the animals to plan, and to build, and to transform our environment. We also have the ability to choose and to consider the effects of our actions. So among the animals we have a special responsibility to account for our care of the earth and its creatures.
Animals have their own special abilities, some of which science is still discovering. Most traditional cultures, including ancient Israel and Egypt and Greece, told proverbs and parables about animals and nature, to teach wisdom. We still have a few of these teachings in the bible: especially in the book of Proverbs, and in today’s gospel reading.
In this passage Jesus is reminding us that worry is not how God means us to live; that faith and trust serve us better. He invites us to take our part in the dance of life, without taking on problems that are not ours to fix. Other living beings just show up and do what they do best: birds fly and forage, flowers bloom. We are the only creatures who try to control the future, a job that none of us can accomplish. Jesus uses our relations to remind us to join the dance of life, not to be paralyzed by worry.
Many traditional cultures also have animal totems: they understand that by befriending a certain animal a person can learn the gifts and skills of that animal. Buffalo teaches strength and self-giving. Wolf teaches loyalty. Turtle makes a secure home. Owl teaches wisdom and insight. Coyote teaches humor and play. Whatever trait you are in need of, there is an animal who has what you need, and is happy to teach you, ifyou will offer it your respect and companionship. Are you drawn to any particular animal?
In befriending our pets we often discover love and affection and companionship, so freely given, that I feel safe to say our pets show God’s love for us. They challenge us to love them well. To love is to be vulnerable to loss. Most of us have by now outlived a pet we have loved. And so they also teach us about loss, and letting go, cherishing memories, and moving on.
In traditional thinking, “all our relations” go beyond the animal world. In response to indigenous peoples’ lobbying, four rivers were given the legal status of persons in 2017: the Whanganui River in New Zealand, the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in India, and the Rio Atrato, in Colombia. Nobody knows what this means yet in a court of law, but it seems at least as valid to make rivers persons as it is to make corporations persons. Hopefully someday soon watersheds and mountains will be plaintiffs on lawsuits against oil companies to preserve their existence.
We alone, among all our relations, have moral choices to make. So how will we do right by our animal relations? Just to bring up the question is to begin to heal our relationships with the non-human world, to attend to “all our relations,” instead of treating nature like a thing, a tool to be used.
I think it’s pretty obvious how to do right by domestic animals: simply to give them humane treatment. Wild animals invite us to witness power and grace outside our human realm. I am humbled when I watch the hummingbird in my garden go about her business, defying gravity, making beauty. I am awed when the eye of the heron catches mine, as he stands still and regal on the fence behind my house. God has whole lives and purposes that are not human, that we do not control. In witnessing them, we can be transformed.
How do we do right by wild animals? Give them life and a home. The situation is dire. Habitats are under threat in so many ways. By giving wild animals what they need to live, we will give ourselves what we need. By saving them we help save ourselves. They do not need to belong to us to bless us.
The tradition of Christian blessing of animals is said to start with Francis of Assisi in the eleventh century. We are told that Francis frequently preached to the birds. What could he tell them about their lives and their service to God that they didn’t already know? I suspect he just enjoyed their company; and apparently they enjoyed his too. The stories say that wild animals and birds came up to Francis without fear. Maybe he sang to them. Maybe they could tell he recognized them as his relations.
We bless our pets because they bless us. And blessing them reminds us of our duty and our joy, to honor all our relations. Amen.
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What happens to animals after they die? I do not know, but I trust that they are beloved by God. Some scholars have claimed that animals do not have souls. Strange, since the Latin word for soul is anima. I think what these scholars mean is that animals do not face the judgment after death that our faith has taught that humans face. We humans are accountable to God for the lives we have led, because we are conscious of the choices we make. We are responsible– responsible for doing right; for living God’s way. Animals don’t have this same awareness and responsibility (as far as we know.) Animals just do what they do, and they do it well. In their own unique ways they serve God, without having to try, without worrying about doing it right.
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