September 28, 2025 · Rev. Derek van Gulden · Genesis 1:24-31; Psalm 148; Matthew 6:25-29
On Blessing of the Animals Sunday, Rev. Derek van Gulden plays a chickadee's call and asks whether we have the humility to learn from other creatures: birds that bring peace, pets that notice first when we're unwell, a granddaughter training a calf to ride. Creation is one ecosystem, and we are part of it.
Transcript
People of God, would you join me in a moment of prayer? Gracious and holy God, this morning I ask you to move the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts by your love, and help each of us this day not to be the instrument of our own or anyone else's oppression, but to be an instrument of peace in every step, in every breath, in every moment of every day.
Can anybody identify that? No. Any thoughts? What? Phoebe? No. No. It's a chickadee.
One of the reasons we celebrate. Blessing of the animals this time of year is because the work that Saint Francis did with showing the world through faith, how important all of creation is in the balance of life and the balance of creation in the ecosystems that we live in. My question today to you do we have the humility to learn from other creatures, or do we think we have it all figured out?
I played that piece because I'm trying to learn bird calls on Mondays most Monday mornings, which is my day off. I had to Plum Island or I had to, the Ipswich River Audubon Sanctuary. And I walk around and I don't bring a camera with me anymore. Well, I have my cell phone, but that doesn't really help because I just like being in the presence of the birds. They bring me peace. They help just wash away everything. They bring me joy and I find them healing.
Sarah and I love to have bird feeders in the backyard of the parsonage. We do it in the backyard so no one can see it because then we'll supposedly mice and rats will come and eat from it and habitate the parsonage, which they're not. But the app I was just using not only helps identify the bird, but we can sit there and we can hit the app, and the app will listen to the birds around and tell you what it is. And it's fun just to sit in the backyard at the end of a day or at the end of the week and be healed, not just hearing the birds and seeing them, but the ones we can't see. One evening in the middle of the summer, we were sitting there not long after we discovered this and there was an owl. We couldn't see it, but it was there. There was even a loon. I kind of questioned that one. But when you heard it where I grew up, there were lots of loons. They were all other kinds of birds, and it's great.
The healing nature of creatures is amazing. How many of you have pets at home? Oh come on. How many of you have pets at home and didn't bring them with you today? When you're feeling bad, upset, sick, or anything, who notices it first? Zoe. Usually your pets.
For a long time we had Ginger, the parsonage dog, and Ginger did not like me. She didn't like any man, truthfully. But whenever I was sick, she would climb up on the bed and put her head right on my chest. Our cat tux, which is looks like the black and white one there. He's a tuxedo cat. We didn't bring him because he's kind of finicky. We'll come up to either Sarah and I and curl up next to us when we're taking naps, or lay on her chest and read with her. It's these calming and wonderful actions.
My grandchildren live on a farm. I've told you that tons of times. They love going out into the chicken coop, which moves. It's on wheels, it moves, it's got a fence around it. And they just love sitting there listening to the chickens, hunting for the eggs. Always fun. They do it every day, even on Easter. My granddaughter is teaching a I think it's six month old calf that's a male calf that didn't end up on the meat wagon, and she's teaching it to become a riding heifer. So soon she will start to put a blanket on it when it gets big enough and she'll start to ride it. Eventually she'll use a horse saddle. People ride their cows, but it brings her peace And it brings her joy.
When we forget these things, when we do things in our lives without noticing it, that lessens the number of creatures on this earth. And then eventually some of them are gone for good. Our ecosystem changes, and it cannot ever go back to what it was, because God created this integral thing called creation, an ecosystem that all aspects of it work together, even us. And if you want to know what kind of effect we have on creation, not always, but if you remember, about three months into the pandemic, and maybe you walked down to the town pier and you looked into the water and you could see the bottom, you could see fish. It was so clear, So amazing. And I know throughout the world in that period of time of what, a year, year and a half, two years that the lockdown took place, creation recovered in so many ways. I'm sure we've already gone back to what we do and took that away. But it's amazing to remember the effect we have on creation and that we're part of it.
So I hope, and this is my goal, is to remember humility. When I look at these creatures and what they bring, not just to the ecosystem of all creation, but what they bring to each of us the healing, the companionship, the love. Even when they get up in the middle of the night and bark and need to go out, it's all good. Amen.