EverChanging
Well-Known Member
[Edit:
http://www.examiner.com/animal-rights-in-toronto/holy-canine-dog-receives-communion-toronto-church
This article is an example of how non-human animals, particularly domesticated pets, and their relevance to our spiritual lives may manifest in even traditional, trinitarian, sacramental churches, such as the Anglican Communion in places like the USA or Canada. I'm interested to know how some of the Universalist Christians here would respond.]
This question is geared toward UUs who tend to be Universalist Christians, but I'm sure non-Christian UUs of other traditions, especially eclectic ones, may be able to share relevant beliefs as well.
My personal practices are eclectic, but over time as I have learned and recovered from my religious past, I have found myself nurtured by Christianity again, specifically, sacramental Christianity, meaning in part that Holy Communion is more than purely a symbol -- it is a thin place, where heaven and earth meet.
I am also heavily influenced by Buddhism, particularly Zen Buddhism. I find the Upanishads of Hinduism more beautiful than most of the Christian Bible (though I will continue to explore the Bible because of my culture and own background, and I am fascinated by it.) I venerate the Virgin Mary and the saints and leave offerings because I find "God" everywhere -- all gods and goddesses, the saints, the Buddha, nature, animals. I love Shiva and Lucifer, god of light, and even the scary, bloody gods -- they are all a description of the human response to That. I love Voodoo, too, candles, incense, and I find it useful to bond with "lesser" manifestations of God than the Ultimate: experiences traditionally called "spirit guides."
Indeed, the divine is immanent everywhere in everything; it is nothing and everything. It is a wordless word. It is mother and father, brother, sister, friend, enemy, good, evil, light, dark. It is me and it is Not Me, beyond all love, perception. It is That.
Part of my rituals includes a practice that is "unorthodox" among most Christians, but I think most Christian UUs would not object. I consecrate Holy Communion in my own home, though I am no priest or minister, and I give it to everyone who wishes for it, including people of different faiths so that they can take Communion even when they can't in their own churches. All of these people reverence it, as do I, and all left over wine or crumbs are pourn onto grass or into flower beds and not thrown into the trash because it is a sacred offering.
The physical nature of the sacrament is purposeful, as God is immanent, and as a UU I respect the web of all life, including nature and animals without considering humans superior to even a blade of grass, or vice versa. Because of environmental concerns as well as empathy for the treatment of animals, especially in factory farms, I am a vegetarian transitioning into veganism, and I have always bonded closely with animals. I never shot an animal or hunted or abused them, though I was raised in a family where I was expected to hunt and kill and even teach dogs to be fierce and violent, so I was always ostracized and even denigrated in my family for kindness toward animals and even pets. In fact, in East Texas in a rural area, most dogs in my neighborhood were abused, chained, and trained to harm others as well as existing in pitiful conditions. I would find dogs that bit other children, often ones tangled in a chain around a tree, and I would visit them when the owners were away until they knew a human could be kind and would often become very friendly and even safe for my other childhood friends to pet or touch or play with.
Part of my universalistic Christian beliefs is that God is all life, embraces all life, loves all life, and I have often found animals to be more vulnerable and open to life, yes, even snakes and carnivores, animals who hunt and kill in a way that I have never been capable of doing. And because I find God in them, all animals I am able to bond with, I include in my rituals and prayers, including Holy Communion, and if bread and wine are not suitable for an animal, I use different elements. I share it with dying dogs and rats; cats and even the earth. I share the body of Christ because Christ is the offering for all existence, all life -- every blade of grass and mosquito.
As UU Universalist Christians, how do you differ in your attitude toward animals and nature than many of our more "orthodox" (whatever that is) Christian cousins? Do you find it fitting at all to share a sacred offering to God, even Holy Communion, with Christians and non-Christians? The baptized and the not? Infants? Adults? What about even those who can't understand the significance of the ritual, like an infant? How about a mentally retarded adult? Even your pets, a suffering animal, the Earth itself? How would you feel if you attended a home Communion ritual and the community shared this communal meal with their cherished pets or other animals?
If you are not a Christian but cherish other sacred rituals or rites, do you include non-human animals? Does it seem odd for a Christian to do so?
I apologize for the lengthy nature of this post. This is how I flesh out my theology and provoke creative responses from you all, that I might learn and enrich my perspective.
http://www.examiner.com/animal-rights-in-toronto/holy-canine-dog-receives-communion-toronto-church
This article is an example of how non-human animals, particularly domesticated pets, and their relevance to our spiritual lives may manifest in even traditional, trinitarian, sacramental churches, such as the Anglican Communion in places like the USA or Canada. I'm interested to know how some of the Universalist Christians here would respond.]
This question is geared toward UUs who tend to be Universalist Christians, but I'm sure non-Christian UUs of other traditions, especially eclectic ones, may be able to share relevant beliefs as well.
My personal practices are eclectic, but over time as I have learned and recovered from my religious past, I have found myself nurtured by Christianity again, specifically, sacramental Christianity, meaning in part that Holy Communion is more than purely a symbol -- it is a thin place, where heaven and earth meet.
I am also heavily influenced by Buddhism, particularly Zen Buddhism. I find the Upanishads of Hinduism more beautiful than most of the Christian Bible (though I will continue to explore the Bible because of my culture and own background, and I am fascinated by it.) I venerate the Virgin Mary and the saints and leave offerings because I find "God" everywhere -- all gods and goddesses, the saints, the Buddha, nature, animals. I love Shiva and Lucifer, god of light, and even the scary, bloody gods -- they are all a description of the human response to That. I love Voodoo, too, candles, incense, and I find it useful to bond with "lesser" manifestations of God than the Ultimate: experiences traditionally called "spirit guides."
Indeed, the divine is immanent everywhere in everything; it is nothing and everything. It is a wordless word. It is mother and father, brother, sister, friend, enemy, good, evil, light, dark. It is me and it is Not Me, beyond all love, perception. It is That.
Part of my rituals includes a practice that is "unorthodox" among most Christians, but I think most Christian UUs would not object. I consecrate Holy Communion in my own home, though I am no priest or minister, and I give it to everyone who wishes for it, including people of different faiths so that they can take Communion even when they can't in their own churches. All of these people reverence it, as do I, and all left over wine or crumbs are pourn onto grass or into flower beds and not thrown into the trash because it is a sacred offering.
The physical nature of the sacrament is purposeful, as God is immanent, and as a UU I respect the web of all life, including nature and animals without considering humans superior to even a blade of grass, or vice versa. Because of environmental concerns as well as empathy for the treatment of animals, especially in factory farms, I am a vegetarian transitioning into veganism, and I have always bonded closely with animals. I never shot an animal or hunted or abused them, though I was raised in a family where I was expected to hunt and kill and even teach dogs to be fierce and violent, so I was always ostracized and even denigrated in my family for kindness toward animals and even pets. In fact, in East Texas in a rural area, most dogs in my neighborhood were abused, chained, and trained to harm others as well as existing in pitiful conditions. I would find dogs that bit other children, often ones tangled in a chain around a tree, and I would visit them when the owners were away until they knew a human could be kind and would often become very friendly and even safe for my other childhood friends to pet or touch or play with.
Part of my universalistic Christian beliefs is that God is all life, embraces all life, loves all life, and I have often found animals to be more vulnerable and open to life, yes, even snakes and carnivores, animals who hunt and kill in a way that I have never been capable of doing. And because I find God in them, all animals I am able to bond with, I include in my rituals and prayers, including Holy Communion, and if bread and wine are not suitable for an animal, I use different elements. I share it with dying dogs and rats; cats and even the earth. I share the body of Christ because Christ is the offering for all existence, all life -- every blade of grass and mosquito.
As UU Universalist Christians, how do you differ in your attitude toward animals and nature than many of our more "orthodox" (whatever that is) Christian cousins? Do you find it fitting at all to share a sacred offering to God, even Holy Communion, with Christians and non-Christians? The baptized and the not? Infants? Adults? What about even those who can't understand the significance of the ritual, like an infant? How about a mentally retarded adult? Even your pets, a suffering animal, the Earth itself? How would you feel if you attended a home Communion ritual and the community shared this communal meal with their cherished pets or other animals?
If you are not a Christian but cherish other sacred rituals or rites, do you include non-human animals? Does it seem odd for a Christian to do so?
I apologize for the lengthy nature of this post. This is how I flesh out my theology and provoke creative responses from you all, that I might learn and enrich my perspective.
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