Has it occurred to you that the Gospel this morning was a very strange one for Harvest Festival?
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap and store in barns, and yet our Heavenly Father feeds them.” That does not seem to be very appropriate as we rejoice in gathering the harvest.
But Harvest festival is not just about saying thank you for what we eat and the work of those who produce it. It’s also about our place in nature and how we should behave towards our environment and other people and animals. It’s animals mainly that I want to talk about, and I want to explore how they matter to us, in two ways. They teach us something about Justice-how we should behave respecting others and expecting others to respect us. That is the first point; the second is that the natural world and its animals also give us an idea of God’s generosity- what he gives us which cannot expect and do not deserve.
This is, I believe, what Jesus is telling us about creation, our environment and animals when he says: “Set your minds on God’s kingdom and his Justice before everything and all the rest will come to you”
As we try to set our minds on God’s kingdom, the important thing to remember is that the creation was a free gift from God -the first example of his generosity. And so we are all, plants , animals and humans all creatures- things that god created. This creation did not happen once but goes on happening all the time as the seasons change and as new generations are born and grow up. We might call this constant creating an act of kindness from God- and it’s certainly something which should inspire us to be kind.
The words kind and kindness however, come from our word “Kin”. Our kin are those who are related to us, members of our family, on whom we rely for physical support like food or clothing but also emotional support- love and kindness. Because we are all creatures of God, this kindred spirit does not only apply to our families, or even only to fellow human beings but everything in creation.
Being related means that we rely on each other and owe each part of creation respect. This is the justice and fairness which should rule in the kingdom which God has given us. The consequences of not respecting the natural world have become very clear in the last hundred years and among other more serious disasters there are fewer of those wildflowers dressed more beautifully than Solomon and fewer of the birds of the air collecting just what they need and not eating more than they need as so many of us do, while others go hungry. We have failed to respect the fairness and justice inherent in nature.
We ought to be sorry for our failings, but we need not beat ourselves up all the time and perhaps more importantly, we should respond to God’s abundant generosity by kindness of a different sort- the kindness that goes beyond justice and fairness, the sort of kindness or love we can sometimes see in animals.
I’m going to end by giving you a rather more practical and positive example of this, onee that I hope Jesus would have approved, and probably the only thing you will remember from this little talk; so listen carefully.
We have a sweet natured dog called Marly; his long face is in my opinion very handsome, but from the neck down, he is decidedly wonky and it must also be admitted that he is deep, but dim. On a walk he will often stop, suddenly struck by an existential crisis; he can’t remember whether it’s GOD or DOG that he is. If the former, is he responsible for the terrible state of the world? Luckily the offer of a treat will persuade he’s only a dog, and his happiness is restored because he then also remembers that his purpose in life is to make others happy, whether they be sad grown- ups or, his speciality, crying children. He will seek out wailing toddlers in the park and approach them wagging his tail and smiling, which usually has the effect of cheering them up without it being necessary to lick their faces too.
We can learn from Marly; what better way of fulfilling the Gospel and building the Kingdom of God based on more than justice and fairness than seeing our purpose in life as bringing happiness to the sad? If we all did that, the world be a better place; the place God intends it to be.
Amen
