talking to animals on Christmas Eve

It's becoming a bit of a Christmas Eve tradition to share this reflection from Nancy Janisch of Conversation in Faith, a heartfelt and hopeful complement for 'the night before' ...

When you were young, did anyone ever tell you that animals can talk at midnight on Christmas?  I don’t remember who told me, but I do remember looking expectantly at our family Dachshund for several years on Christmas Eve.  For the record, he never said anything.  At least not in a human language.

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the friendly beasts

I was vacuuming one of the children's rooms at church last weekend and noticed on one of the tables a copy of The Animals' Christmas Eve, a Little Golden Book which charmingly weaves together the stories of modern-day farm animals with those who surrounded Jesus at His birth:

In the barn on Christmas Eve,
After all the people leave,
The animals, in voices low,
Remember Christmas long ago ...

Written by Gale Wiersum, The Animals' Christmas Eve was originally published in 1977 (Western Publishing, see cover).  The original illustrations, though a bit dated and occasionally somewhat Anglo-Saxon, are quaintly attractive and remind me of Sunday School illustrations of a generation or two back.  An updated version of the book was released a few years ago, with more contemporary illustrations as you can see here. 

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sabbath, animals included

A poignant reflection from Nancy Janisch of Conversation in Faith on how the biblical concept of sabbath, or "a period of rest" (Dictionary.com), is meant for animals as well ...

The Bible doesn’t have much to say about God’s relationship with animals.  This isn’t surprising since the Bible is part of God’s revelation to humans and thus the relationship between God and humanity is the focus of the story.  God’s revelation to animals, whatever it is, is unknown to us.  Since animals are not storytellers - at least in the way we tell stories - it seems logical that God’s revelation to animals would be different from God’s revelation to us and  appropriate for and intelligible to animals.

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Christian reflections on Ohio tragedy

By now there's a good chance you've heard some news of the awful events which took place in Central Ohio early last week.  Terry Thompson, previously convicted of animal cruelty and other criminal charges, set 50-plus animals free from his private exotic animal collection at Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, including lions, leopards, bears, wolves, primates and 18 endangered Bengal tigers.  Thompson then tragically took his own life, and 49 of the free-roaming animals were killed by local police, naturally untrained to deal with such a crisis involving so many foreign and dangerous animals.

You can get a good overview of Thompson's history with animals and Ohio's lax legislation with respect to exotic animal possession, and failure to require Thompson to relinquish his collection, in a CNN.com article and accompanying video "Friend: Animal farm owner under stress" (from which the following screenshot is taken).

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what I learned from animals

The following is a brief but poignant reflection from Nancy Janisch of Conversation in Faith on recognizing the profound creatureliness in the eyes of animals, a privilege many of us have encountered through the companions in our own homes ...

What I learned from animals, I learned from looking into their eyes.  Look into the eyes of an animal and someone looks back.  If you grew up with animals you might take this for granted.  It took me quite a while before I realized how astonishing this is.  It’s not just a dog or a cat or a horse looking at you; it’s this dog or this cat or this horse looking at you.

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Immanuel, God with us

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  (Luke 2:15-16, ESV)

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play it again

Nancy Janisch of Conversation in Faith provides an appropriate, and happy, bookend to recent posts on animal sentience and suffering with a look at the playfulness of God's creatures, and what that might mean for how we relate to them ...

I have written twice before on my blog about play (here and here).  An article about play in Science News caught my eye this week, which previews quite an interesting article in October’s The Scientist.  Did you know rats laugh?  There is evidence that birds play, and octopuses and turtles and wasps play also.  I wonder why that surprises us?

So, does every living thing play?  Is play part and parcel of being an animal?  Or is play so useful that it has evolved repeatedly?  No one knows the answer to that, yet.  And if play is useful, in what way is it useful?  Researchers have some ideas, but no firm answers on that yet either.

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John Wesley's concern for every living creature

I believe in my heart that faith in Jesus Christ can and will lead us beyond an exclusive concern for the well-being of other human beings to a broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backywards, the fish in our rivers, and every living creature on the face of the earth.

This hopeful statement was made by John Wesley (1703-1791), a lifelong Anglican who was also the founder of the Methodist movement with his brother Charles.  Wesley, an evangelical who was intently concerned with both personal evangelism and holy living, was a hugely influential pastor, preacher, theologian and writer in both England and America.  He was also an advocate for many social causes.

Wesley's "The General Deliverance" is just as rare as it is valuable, an 18th century sermon which was sincerely given on behalf of both humans and animals.  The biblical text which Wesley is working with, one which we've referred to frequently as well, is Romans 8:19-22:

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animals and the bible

A perfect prelude to the question we'll continue to look at in the coming days of whether animal welfare is a valid and biblically grounded cause for Christians to care about, courtesy of Nancy Janisch ...

Did it ever strike you as odd that Christians can affirm God’s care for and love of creation, and simultaneously give next to no thought about how our faith might influence how we treat animals and the rest of creation? 

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the sad story of Oreo

Last winter we ran an extended series on companion animal shelter and rescue efforts, and some of the many dynamics which confront them, including the very vital discussion taking place around the "no kill" ideal.  I wanted to share an important reflection from Nancy Janisch on the same subject, applied to severely psychologically damaged pets in particular. 

You may not agree with Nancy at every point, and from the outside looking in I wonder myself about the availability of other options.  But, as always, she wrestles honestly and graciously with very difficult scenarios, and my hope is that any comments on her post will reflect the same. 

"The Sad Story of Oreo the Dog" begins with a pit bull mix who survived being thrown off a New York City roof last summer, but still ended up being put down by the ASPCA in November for severe behavioral reasons (be sure to read the article to familiarize yourself with all that went into the decision):

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