Sunday Sermon - 4 October
Today is the “feast” or celebration of St. Francis, the great lover of creation. We have our beloved dogs and cats and perhaps a few other creatures with us - all very nice, but then we hear Jesus tell a story about a vineyard, some violent tenants, murdered servants, and a son who is also eventually killed. Not exactly the warm and fuzzy Gospel we might have chosen for the day!
But there is a connection here that is worth talking about.
The landowner plants a vineyard. He prepares it. He cares for it. He gives it everything it needs to flourish. Then he entrusts it to others.
He entrusts it to others.
The vineyard is not theirs. It has been placed in their care but somewhere along the way, the tenants forget that. They begin to act as though the vineyard belongs to them, instead of stewardship – they take ownership.
St. Francis understood that creation is not ours to possess. It is ours to receive, ours to care for, ours to love. There is a big difference between stewardship and ownership. We live in a world that is very good at turning everything into a possession. My house. My land. My money. My time. My stuff. Sometimes even: my world. But the Christian story calls us in a different direction.
It all belongs to God. The vineyard belongs to God. The earth belongs to God. The animals belong to God. Blessedly, so do we.
St. Francis seemed to understand this deeply. He could look at a bird and see a fellow creature. He could look at the sun and call it brother. He could look at the moon and call her sister. He didn't need to own creation in order to love it. He simply received it as a gift. I believe that is why the blessing of animals is so important and such a beautiful thing. If you've ever loved an animal, you know that they have a way of undoing our illusions about control. Seriously, who is really in charge of your relationship with your pet?
We feed them. We pick up after them. We care for them. We think we are in charge. Then they look at us as if to say, "Really?" They teach us something. They remind us that life is a gift. They remind us that love doesn't always need words. They remind us that companionship can be quiet and they remind us that we are part of something much larger than ourselves.
I think that is what St. Francis saw. The world was not simply a collection of things to use at our whim. It is a community of God's creatures and we have been given a place within that community. Not as owners but as equal inhabitants of this beautiful earth. As stewards. As neighbours. As people who have been entrusted with something precious.
My friends, the bigger point for us today is not simply the care we give to our animals, but the way we receive the world God has given us. We receive it with gratitude. We treat it as a gift. We care for what has been entrusted to us. Most importantly, we must always remember that it was never ours to begin with.
The tenants in Jesus' story forgot. They forgot that the vineyard was a gift.
They forgot that they were tenants. They forgot the one who had entrusted it to them. St. Francis remembered and reminds us. So today, as we bless these animals who bring so much love and joy into our lives, perhaps they can help us - remind us of this fact: The earth is God's. The animals are God's. Our lives are God's. And all of it is a gift.
Let us give thanks for these sacred creatures who share our lives. Let us give thanks for the beauty of creation and let us ask for the grace to become the kind of people who are good stewards who take great care for what has been entrusted to us.
Amen
