By Sharon Sheridan
“I want a leg!”
It’s not every day that youngsters get to try tasting sour cream-and-onion crickets (aka, Crick-ettes from the Flanders ShopRite). But it was all part of an animal-themed morning at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown on Oct. 7.
The day began with a blessing of the animals during the 9 a.m. Eucharist in commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi, a monk born in the 12th century and known for his dedication to the poor and reverence for all of God’s creation.
A multitude of dogs and a few brave cats attended the worship service. In place of a sermon, the Rev. Melissa Hall, assistant rector, invited the visiting and remarkably well-behaved menagerie to come forward for a blessing.
Hall sprinkled holy water using an evergreen branch – a practice known as asperges – on the pets and their owners. She also blessed stuffed animals, photos of absent pets, a live feed of cats at a remote location and one plastic action figure held by a child who said he didn’t have a pet but still wanted a blessing.
During the Christian education hour following the service, the fourth- through sixth-graders participated in a lesson on animal diversity. They discussed their responsibility in caring for animals as part of God’s creation, the great variety of animals on earth and the different ways humans interact with animals, from companions to sources of transportation, clothing and food.
That’s where the crickets came in, with some youngsters eating entire critters, others daring to taste a leg and others opting out altogether. They concluded the lesson with a snack palatable to all – homemade sugar cookies in animal shapes that they decorated.
The 11:15 a.m. worship service focused attention to an animal prominently featured in the Bible: the snake.
Hall processed into the church carrying a covered basket bearing a sign reading, “Caution, live reptile, do not open.” At sermon time, she carried it with her into the pulpit, where she tackled the topic of fear.
Hall began by discussing William Wimsatt and the journey he took as part of a “social awareness project” called Bet with America to demonstrate the destructive power of fear. “I believe that running away from people we fear most – what I call the suburban mentality – is the source of America’s deepest problems,” he said.
To prove his point, Wimsatt hitchhiked across the country through what were considered America’s most dangerous neighborhoods. “And nothing happened,” Hall said. “In all his time traveling into those domains of fear, only one crime occurred.” A young white woman in Pittsburgh fell in love with him and stole his blue jeans and diary as souvenirs.
“This social experiment of Billy Wimsatt emphasizes for us why fear itself can be so absolutely frightening,” she said. “So often our fears not only terrify us but serve to separate and isolate us from one another, so much so that healthy relationships seem impossible.”
“Our Gospel this morning is all about our relationships, and Jesus admonishes his disciples that God at creation has placed us together on equal footing as one being … Jesus emphasized that the legal language of human laws is predicated on separation, while God’s language is about being united in love and acceptance.”
Noting the day’s honoring of St. Francis, she discussed the special relationships that people have with their pets. “I love this particular day in church because it brings out some of the best in us, which is our love and affection for our pets that are cherished and important creatures in our lives. But it can also challenge us in our fears, call up our prejudices and misconceptions.”
She asked the congregants, for example, to consider the python, “an animal that by its mere mention can strike terror in the hearts of many.”
And she told the congregation that she had a friend’s pet, named Deception, in the basket beneath her foot in the pulpit. “As I promised many of you who are fearful of snakes, she will not leave this pulpit.”
Hall continued with her discussion of fear and its consequences, including how it is playing out in the runup to the presidential election. “Fear and prejudice,” she said, “can make us believe things that are not real. Fear and prejudice can hijack our good judgment. And fear and prejudice can allow our imaginations to hold us hostage.”
Then she returned to Deception.
“Here is your snake, folks,” she said, opening the basket and hauling out – a bright orange extension cord.
“Not what you expected, is it?” she asked. “I suspect it is a lot less frightening than you imagined, a lot less frightening than your fears and misconceptions led you to believe.
“Let this be a lesson to us all. Let us remember that in the beginning we were created as one, and that is where we should start and end with one another, before our prejudices and fears cloud our vision.
“And let us for at least this day try to be as good as our animals think we are.”
