IMAGE: St. Francis in Ecstasy, Giovani Bellini (1480)
Both here and in all your churches throughout the whole world. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. For by your [+] Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world. AMEN.
[Franciscan Prayer upon entering and departing a sacred space]
This is the service that those of us who are owned by non-human animals look forward to each year. The blessing of the animals allows us to bring our beloved fur, feather and fin babies together to celebrate the blessing that they are in our lives. And in the process, we celebrate the feast day of Francis of Assisi, the most beloved saint in western Christianity behind the Virgin Mary.
Living Under a Rule
Two of us at St.
Richards are professed third order Franciscans and we also have an aspirant
here as well. For us, this is a very special day. We are part of a three tiered
religious order within the Anglican Communion that stretches around the world. Unlike
our First and Second Order Brothers and Sisters who live in communities in
places as far removed as New Zealand and Brasil, we Third Order Franciscans, or
tertiaries as we are called, do not live in community. But we follow a rule of
life we must each write and have approved by our order. So while we live in the
world like everyone else, we seek to embody the Franciscan values our tradition
espouses in our lives.
Thirty one years ago in Trinity Episcopal Church in the city named after St. Francis, San Francisco, I was professed into the Third Order. At times it has been rather lonely trying to live out Franciscan values in a world and a church which are indifferent to those values on a good day and hostile to them on most days. But my affiliation with St. Richards has made that much easier. And today I’d like to talk about why that is.
Last June, Linda Boyer and I attended the Provincial Convocation of the Third Order out in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was an amazing week of very thoughtful lectures, moving liturgies celebrated in four different languages and challenging discussions. And it was there that I had a revelation that had not occurred to me previously. About the middle of that week, it dawned on me that, while we may not realize it, St. Richards is a profoundly Franciscan parish.
A Latter Day Francis
To begin with, our
patron saint, Richard of Chichester, could readily be seen as a latter-day
Francis. Orphaned as a small child, Richard began his life in his brother’s fields
and had a strong identification with the natural seasons of pruning,
fertilizing and harvesting the fruit from his orchards as well as the
challenges of raising sheep. The latter experience would mark his compassion
toward farm animals which played out in his vegetarianism in his adult life.
This is the pattern we see in Francis who preached to birds and negotiated with
wolves, celebrating the goodness of G-d which was evident everywhere he looked.
There is a reason we bless animals on Francis’ feast day.
IMAGE: Giotto fresco, “Miracle of the Cross,” Basilica of San
Francisco, Assisi, (1299)
Even the prayer
credited to St. Richard has Franciscan overtones. Richard asked Jesus for three
things: “to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more
nearly.” The prayer we attribute to Francis simply puts it this way: “Lord,
make us instruments of your peace.”
A Critical Time for Franciscan Values
At our convocation, we were told that this is a critical time to be Franciscan, to model a way of being human that is “deeply concerned about creation, deeply concerned about justice, deeply concerned about matters of inclusion.” As I heard those words, it began to occur to me that if I were going to write a summary of parish life at St. Richards, it would sound much like the words I was hearing at Convocation.
This is a parish that
encourages a way of following Jesus that is deeply concerned about creation. We
see it in our commitment to native plants that evidences an awareness of the
limitations on watering and fertilizing that are necessary to protect the
larger environment. This parish has thought long and hard about the best and
highest use of its property in ways that consider the larger concerns for the Good
Creation in an age of climate change. And we see it in our willingness to honor
the non-human animal companions with whom we share our lives this day and whom
we bury here on our sacred ground when it is their time to depart from us.
This is a parish that is deeply concerned about justice. We see it in our Sacred Ground program, in the justice work we do in the community and across the state, in our engagement of the homeless in Family Promise. Justice issues inform our sermons, our music and worship as well as our church education programs. This parish evidences a high level of consciousness of the little ones that Jesus loved. Our attention to justice at St. Richards is deeply Franciscan.
Finally, this is a parish that is deeply concerned about matters of inclusion. Without our DEPO arrangement with Bp. Terry White of Kentucky, we could not celebrate the loving relationships of all parishioners in a diocese which sadly continues to confuse religious truths with common social prejudices. And that inclusivity is on display weekly at our eucharists. A rainbow of clergy occupy our pulpit and our altar. And on the other side of the rail, a rainbow of humanity comes forward to receive “the gifts of G-d for the people of G-d.” That means all of them.
No Small Mission We Pursue
Like the little brothers of Francis of Assisi, we are a parish that readily pours out our doors to engage the world around us. Our commitment to our parish mission does not end at the deacon’s dismissal each week. And it is no small mission we pursue. All we seek to do is discover G-d’s love, change our lives and change the whole world.
That’s all.
But I think that would make Francis of Assisi smile. Because, like him, we, too, have heard G-d’s call to repair G-d’s church, a church which is indeed falling into ruin. And, like Francis, we respond with our heads, our hearts, our souls and our lives.
I close with the blessing that St. Francis often gave Brother Leo. I think you will recognize it. Let us pray:
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord show His face to you and be
gracious unto you.
May the Lord lift up the light of His
countenance upon you and give you peace.
Brothers and Sisters - of all species - may the
Lord bless you! AMEN.
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Harry Scott Coverston
Orlando, Florida
If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an
unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding.
Most things worth considering do not come in sound bites.
Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected
don't understand either. – Mahatma Gandhi
For what does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to
love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d? - Micah
6:8, Hebrew Scriptures
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do
justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to
complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi
Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the Jewish Sages (1993)
© Harry Coverston, 2023
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