Handfasting-by-Design            

                             A Dog's Purpose, from a 4-year-old

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old
Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa,
and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and
they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the
family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform
the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would
be good for four-year-old Shane to observe the procedure They felt
as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's
family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for
the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on.
Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy
seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or
confusion.

We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud
about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why."

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next
stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good
life-- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?"
The four-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do
that, so they don't have to stay as long."

Live simply. Love generously Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the
rest to Deity.

Animal Chaplains Fill A Growing Need

Written by the Founder of Interfaith Animal Clergy, Nancy Cronk.

Permission is granted by the author to reprint as is, or use information within for your own article.

Eight year old Willie was hit by a car while playing ball with his family early one Saturday morning.  Mom Madeleine Kelsey was beside herself in grief, as would be expected under the circumstances.  She worried how she would tell her seven year old daughter Rebecca.  She contacted a retired Episcopal Priest named Reverend David James and arranged the funeral for her beloved Willie.  During the ceremony at Hartsdale Cemetery an hour outside of New York City, Rev. James handed everyone a prayer card, and asked little Rebecca to help him read the 23^rd Psalm.  She agreed.   After the beautiful and moving service, between tears, Becky asked Rev. James the question Madeleine had been dreading most.

“Will Willie go to Heaven?”

Rev. James knelt down next to the little girl and asked if she and her family loved Willie with all of their hearts, and she answered, “Yes.”  He then asked if Willie loved his family with all of his heart, and again she said, hugging her stuffed toy cat, “Yes, he did.  I know he did.” 

“Well,” he said, “One of my favorite definitions of God is Love.  If you love Willie, and Willie loves you, do you think God, who is Love, would want you to be away from each other?”  Rebecca wiped her tears, apparently satisfied, and grabbed her mother’s hand as they walked through the memorial park to the car.  Madeleine Kelsey flashed a look of gratitude to Rev. James, and smiled.  She knew she had called the right person.

Willie was a golden retriever.  Rev. David James is a former Episcopal Priest who now serves the larger ecumenical community.  He has performed many human weddings and funerals during his 25 year career, and has performed pet funerals at the nation's oldest pet cemetery for 15 years.  Last year, Rev. James performed more than 100 funerals for dogs, cats, and a variety of other animals.  Although Hartsdale pet cemetery has a reputation of being only for the pets of the rich and famous, they also have low-cost options for people on budgets.  Rev. James is their Animal Chaplain-on-call. 

Pet funerals are becoming more common, and families look to Animal Chaplains to give them the comfort and support some cannot find within their own religious community.  For single adults, especially the elderly, their pets may be the only family members they have.  When their pet dies, they are as devastated as they would be if a human being had died. 

The Interfaith Association of Animal Chaplains lists 35 Chaplains from a variety of different denominations, scattered all over the world.  Many of these members of the Clergy are retired from congregational work, or work independently in their communities, and perform their services in exchange for a requested donation.  Interfaith Animal Clergy is an internet website where many Animal Chaplains are listed, offer pet loss and bereavement support, share pet blessings and scriptural readings about animals, and support others who have chosen their unique calling.  There is also a training program for people interested in starting an Animal Ministry within their own congregations, and for members of the Clergy who wish to add Animal Ministry to the services they provide.

Founder, Chaplain Nancy Cronk of Interfaith Officiants.com, stresses that although the Chaplains listed on the site are from a variety of different religious backgrounds, they share some important things in common.  They all share a respect for the spiritual nature of the human-animal bond, and a deep love for all of God’s creatures, regardless of species.  Although traditional church doctrine in some faiths holds that animals do not have a soul and therefore cannot go to Heaven, the vast majority of the Animal Chaplains she has known believes they do.  Don’t believe them?  Check out one of the almost one hundred books recommended on the Animal Clergy website. 

Praise Them

The birds don't alter space.
They reveal it. The sky
never fills with any
leftover flying. They leave
nothing to trace. It is our own
astonishment collects
in chill air. Be glad.
They equal their due
moment never begging,
and enter ours
without parting day. See
how three birds in a winter tree
make the tree barer.
Two fly away, and new rooms
open in December.
Give up what you guessed
about a whirring heart, the little
beaks and claws, their constant hunger.
We're the nervous ones.
If even one of our violent number
could be gentle
long enough that one of them
found it safe inside
our finally untroubled and untroubling gaze,
who wouldn't hear
what singing completes us?

~ Li-Young Lee ~

(Book of My Nights)

Do our Pets go to Heaven?

Contributed by: Barry Meyer on 6/15/2007 (see biographical sketch at the end of this sermon).

Last week my wife and I brought our 13-year-old golden retriever to the vet to be "put down." Baker had been a faithful companion, but arthritis and old age had taken its toll. He was likely in daily pain from arthritic front legs and his rear legs bowed out oddly due to damaged ACL's. He had become nearly deaf and his immobility had limited his ability to climb and descend stairs, a necessity to enter or leave our home. As the vet said, "He is fine from the neck up, but below the neck, well ...." So we made the difficult decision to end his life sooner rather than later.

His final day was decidedly odd. We knew it was his last day on earth, but did he? We had an appointment for 2 pm and it seemed strange to be able to know exactly when he was going to die. His final hour was spent eating dog biscuits and even a jar of baby food while he gradually relaxed due to the tranquilizer administered by the vet. Finally after about 20 minutes of being petted and spoiled, a dose of Phenobarbital stopped his heart. Baker died at 2:30 pm on June 12, 2007.

Baker had been given to my wife, René, as a housewarming gift - three years before she and I were married; so he had been an integral part of our lives, especially for her. He had survived the ordeal of combining households, of coping with my kids, of adjusting to a new home and the addition of a second dog, Einstein, seven years ago. He did it all in his own style. He could be a bit aloof, even stubborn. On walks, he chose the direction we would go and he was determined to stop at every tree along the way to check for new scents. Yet, he was a beautiful, even regal dog. He would lie in the sun, like a male lion, surveying his domain. He was definitely the alpha dog, even as he became more infirm. At times he even seemed to think he was in charge of us too. But most importantly, he, like so many dogs, was loyal. I doubt that running away ever crossed his mind and his affection for both of us, but especially René was unconditional. And so Baker will be missed.

As humans, we exercise our dominion over animals by making life and death decisions for them. It seems only natural, yet the death of a dear pet seems much more significant than the slaughter of a cow or a squirrel killed on the roadway. Why is that? Is it because we have come to "know" our pets, to have learned that they have personalities, to have gained from them? Animal experts tell us that animals do have personalities, that they can be happy and sad and that they experience many of the same feelings we do, sometimes even more intensely. Jeffery Masson wrote a best seller on the topic entitled, Dogs Never Lie about Love. A psychoanalyst, Masson reflects on the emotions experienced by dogs from gratitude and compassion to disappointment and sadness. He even speculates about their dreams. His writing has struck a note with at least many dog lovers.

My wife and I are religious people. We believe God created all things in some miraculous, mysterious way. He created both of us as well as our dogs. Christians, like us, have always maintained that humans are made "in the image of God." Could it be then, that our pets too reflect at least a portion of God's image? Dogs are known for their undying and unconditional loyalty. Are our pets, especially dogs, perhaps then a gift from God to teach us about "true" loyalty? Certainly, Baker enriched our lives and we experienced true sorrow when he died. Virtually anyone who has had a pet and seen it die will testify to this fact. Pets can play an important role in our lives and their absence leaves a hole.

So where is Baker now? Most would probably simply say, "Nowhere." "He's gone, he's dead, he's an animal - a beast, when they die, it's over." Yet, many would also say that when humans die, something continues. The spirit or soul of a person lives forever. Christians believe that when humans die, they go to heaven or hell. But do animals do the same? As Baker slowly faded, the vet noted that Baker had a "good soul." I'm not sure if she meant that literally, but it made me think. Did Baker have a soul? If in some way he reflected God, does that reflection continue in some mysterious way?

Despite the seeming centrality of heaven and hell in Christian thought, Christians, like most everyone else, are pretty fuzzy on the details of the afterlife. Images of harps and pearly gates or angels or people with wings come to mind, but in truth most of us have very little understanding of what we sense is the destiny of all of us. My wife and I believe God created it all and he created it good - without blemish. Yet, evil entered, corrupted much of it and today we see a mix. We have no problem discerning the evil and yet we still have many, many images and examples of the good and the beauty of the creation.

Some Christians though, have a much more concrete image of at least heaven and we find ourselves in this camp. We believe that God is going to restore his creation, this earth, and that restored creation will be the heaven of the future. And that creation will again be perfect and complete as God originally created it and like the original Garden of Eden, it will have animals. The Bible itself suggests this notion in Job 12, speaking of the "... souls of all living things ..." and important Christians thinkers like John Wesley and John Calvin spoke and wrote often about the restoration of the creation. C.S. Lewis, one of the most influential Christians of the 20 th century reputedly believed pets would be found in heaven. He certainly recognized an important place for animals as evidenced in many of his writings for children which were the basis for the recent movie Narnia. These men and many others saw (and see) heaven then as far more than a place "somewhere up there in the clouds." Evan Masson, a non-religious person, grudgingly suggests that dogs possess something like a soul.

So we are back to the question, is Baker in heaven? I don't know. Yet, I believe that our pets are part of a larger picture that this point I can only see dimly. I believe a restored creation will include animals, and perhaps even our pets. Will every animal that ever lived be in this "new earth?" It hardly seems possible. Yet, as they say, stranger things have happened! Someday, hopefully, our knowledge will be complete.

Barry Meyer has taught science at Denver Christian since 1985. He has also coached football for the past 13 years. Prior to 1985, he lived for 10 years in Africa teaching and working with the Christian Reformed Church in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. He is a graduate of Calvin College (1975) and Denver Christian (1971).  For more writings by this author, please go to www.denver.yourhub.com/feed.axd?cti=1&userid=21683 .