October 9, 2016 "Blessing Of The Animals"

We interrupt your regularly scheduled sermon series to bring you the Blessing Of the Animals. Each year congregations of various denominations around the world meet on a date near the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, to thank God for the animals in their lives. Some people might be surprised to hear that United Methodists have a “Blessing Of the Animals” service in our Book of Worship. Some people might think, “Wow! Isn’t that a Roman Catholic thing to do?” To which my response is, “Sure Roman Catholics bless their animals, but so do Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and many other Christian denominations.” We don’t do anything pagan or strange in our worship. We just love our animals and want to pause and thank God for putting them in our lives.

“Who is this St. Francis of Assisi anyway and why do we care what he did? We're not Roman Catholic.” According to Dr. David Jensen, Academic Dean at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, St. Francis is an old dead guy, older and deader than a lot of theologians in that he lived from 1181-1226. He founded the Roman Catholic the Order of Friars Minor, more commonly known as the Franciscans.

Francis was one of seven children born into a wealthy family, the son of rich cloth merchant. Having heard a sermon about Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers that they should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven was upon them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of poverty.

We have little of the actual writings and teaching of St. Francis, because his vow of poverty prevented him from purchasing and maintaining writing materials. Many of the stories that surround the life of St. Francis deal with his love for animals. Much of the life of St. Francis has been embellished through the years, so possibly more legend than fact remains. St. Francis through his teaching reminds us that “All God's Children Got a Place In The Choir.” God created all the creatures on the face of the planet and called them good. In case you haven't noticed, Francis also wrote the hymn, “All Creatures Of Our God And King” that we sang this morning. St. Francis may have been Roman Catholic, but mainly he was a Christian.