Is God a Dog person?

I am a dog person. It’s not that I don’t like cats, but having been highly allergic to them as a child I did not get to know them all that well. This was not for their lack of trying, of course. Cats somehow knew that I was not so fond of them, so they would instinctively come up to me just to make me sneeze.

Talking about the differences between cats and dogs makes me think of a song by a musician named Fran McKendree. Perhaps some of you have heard his music. He writes mostly very deep, theologically significant, yet stunningly simple lyrics. Although the song I’m thinking of has less to do with how we talk about God and more to do with cats and dogs.

Fran penned a song called “Excerpts from a Dog/Cat Diary.” During the dog portion he plays upbeat music and gives the thoughts of a dog, “8 o’clock breakfast… my favorite, 8:20 go outside… my favorite, saw a squirrel my favorite… 3 o’clock kids home… my favorite, rub my belly… my favorite…” Then when describing the same day in the life of the cat, “This morning I awoke from a dream of freely roaming the woods to realize that my captors still have me locked within this minimum security fortress. After seeing the dried disgust that they call ‘food’ I snuck outside to find real meat. To show my disapproval I brought the head of a chipmunk and laid it upon my captors’ bed.”

The difference between cats and dogs sometimes gets overplayed like in this song, but quite often we identify ourselves as a cat person or a dog person. Today though we celebrate the life of a man named Francis who showed compassion to all creatures that he met, and in turn allows us to see a deeper reality about God.

Francis was a man who lived in the 12th and 13th centuries. While he was born into the family of a wealthy merchant in Italy after an experience of sickness and service in the military he heard God’s voice calling him to “repair my house.” He sold his possessions, which made his family very angry, to pay for repairs to the dilapidated church.

Soon he was living with the local priest and serving the poorest of the poor by treating their diseases, providing them with food, and showing them love when others would not. As Francis grew in popularity followers began to come and immolate his ways. Soon stories began spreading about the miraculous ways he cared not just for other humans, but also for other animals.

Francis gave sermons to birds who sat and listened to him until he sent them away with a blessing. He had animals like fish and rabbits follow him until he made another brother send them away. The saint even changed the heart of a ravenous wolf, such that the creature no longer terrorized a village that had lost not only sheep but also people to the animal’s teeth. To this day when you go into many gardens, including our own McKimmon Garden here at St. John’s you will see St. Francis bidding the creatures to come and receive his blessing.

St. Francis was not a dog or a cat person. He welcomed all creatures to come and receive a blessing from him. In this way he emulated our Creator who made all things good and Jesus Christ who beckoned for all of creation to turn to him for restoration and unloading of burdens. Today we gather to celebrate the blessing that all of these creatures are to us and to remember our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer who continues to bless us and these pets through our relationship together. As we take part in this blessing of the animals let us remember that God is not a dog or cat person, but rather God is a lover of all creatures… God is a critter God who blesses these creatures and us through his sustaining love. Amen.