By Rev. LoraKim Joyner, DVM
According to common myth, Unitarian Universalists are not a people of blessings, as exemplified in this popular story:
There is this guy who saves for years to buy his dream car. He finally shells out a fortune for a brand new Lamborghini. Recognizing the deeply felt significance of attaining his lifelong dream, he drives to a nearby Catholic Church and knocks on the parsonage door. “Father, I was wondering whether you’d be willing to say a blessing on my Lamborghini.” “Certainly, my son,” replies the priest, “but what’s a Lamborghini?” “Sorry to have troubled you, father–I just have a feeling you’re not the right person for the job,” the man apologizes and drives to a nearby synagogue where he repeats the question. “Rabbi, I was wondering whether you’d be willing to say a blessing on my Lamborghini.” “Certainly,” replies the rabbi, “But what’s a Lamborghini?” “Gosh, rabbi, I guess you’re not the right person for the job, either.” So he drives to his local UU meetinghouse and finds the minister. “I was wondering whether you’d be willing to say a blessing on my Lamborghini?” “Certainly,” replies the UU minister, “But what’s a blessing?”
But if Unitarian Universalists are not known for offering blessings in the past, that is now changing. All over the country, UU congregations are doing Animal Blessings. They are quite the storm and people love them.
But we have to ask ourselves why we are doing them. We aren’t known as a tradition where most of us believe in a supernatural force that blesses or where clergy with divine powers confer blessings. Nor do we feel that there is a need to bless a soul for eternal salvation. Are we doing Animal Blessings because of superstition, bad theology, and cheap methods to arrive at a superficial warm fuzzy feeling without contributing to the overall improvement of the human condition? And in the case of nonhuman animals, without contributing to all of life?
This is an important concern. We worship because we wish to understand how to value life and how to improve it for ourselves and for others. Do Animal Blessings do this? I believe that they do and that there is a deep religious and spiritual understanding to blessings that goes beyond the use of “Bless You” in popular culture as a saying of good will.
Take the example of saying a blessing before a meal. A blessing reminds us that the beings and objects of the world are not ours to take, but ours only to receive. We become thoughtful of our limits and our necessary interdependence on all life and we seek to balance our consumption in all areas of our life. Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh addresses this in a blessing which goes:
This food is the gift of the whole universe — the earth, the sky, and much hard work.
May we live in a way that is worthy of this food.
May we transform our unskillful states of mind,
especially that of greed.
May we eat only foods that nourish us and prevent illness.
May we accept this food for the realization of the way of understanding and love.
The depth of this blessing is mirrored in the Christian tradition of blessing as defined by Dr. Elmer Towns. He says “Blessing means making things better, improving your life and services, and does not mean divine intervention.” He continues by saying that when we bless others we add value to others, we give them strength, we promise commitment to others, we purify our emotions, we solidify our relationships, and we increase our potential to minister to others in the world. By being of greater service to others, we are able to bless their lives and our lives with the riches of the community — connection, belonging, healing and purpose. We are blessed to be a blessing.
We are also blessed when we bless someone we do not get along with or who might have harmed us. Saying a blessing to the person who harms us allows us to be more compassionate with ourselves. Our feelings of anger and victimization can diminish and we can be more at peace with ourselves. Our commitment to bless all of life must include ourselves, for we are all in need of blessing and compassion. Paula Becker uses the Buddhist meditation of metta practice, which is a process of cultivating a gentle friendship with oneself through loving kindness. Her meditation has this form:
May I be free from danger.
May I have mental happiness.
May I have physical happiness.
May I have ease of well-being.
We also need to include ourselves in asking for blessings to flow into our life, for by saying blessings for ourselves, we recall that we have a responsibility for our own happiness and that what is good for us is good for others.
An even deeper meaning of blessings is the idea that blessings are a challenge. In Genesis Jacob thought to trick his father Isaac into blessing him by posing as his elder brother, Esau. He was successful but had to flee for fear of Esau. In the desert he encountered God posing as a man who wrestled with him. Jacob was injured but held on tight to the man and said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” God did bless him and changed Jacob’s name to Israel to indicate how Jacob had been transformed. Jacob sought to earn blessings the easy way, but only by having a true encounter with God which wounds him is he able to receive blessings.
The notion that wounding leads to blessings is not unreasonable, given our own experiences of growth after a difficult time. Also interesting is the mixed up etymology of the word, for in French, the word for blessing, Blesser, means to wound. A blessing is a wrestling, wounding, deepening, learning event — not a blessing to keep us closer held to the status quo, but a blessing to bring us into a deeper understanding of the meaning and hope of life. Many blessings do not come cheap, nor are they conferred cheap. But when they arrive they allow us to continue in the struggle of life, for blessings are something that brings a loving and creative spirit of life that lets us know that we are not alone, and that there is strength abounding in us and in all life.
Each of us names our meanings and way of blessing and being blessed, for we each have different experiences and different gifts. This is a blessing from our Unitarian Universalist tradition: we can use the resources and experiences of all the life and faith traditions to support our principles, which in their very essence are a blessing — all beings have worth and we are connected to everything. Perhaps a UU blessing would go like this:
May my understanding of the worth and interdependence of all life comfort me and keep all beings from harm.
When we have Animal Blessing services, we are reaching deeply into our Unitarian Universalist tradition to affirm the worth and interconnection of all life, and hence promote the flourishing of all life. In blessing we are blessed, and hence are healed as we offer healing to all God’s creatures.
Delivered at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation
June 17, 2018
© Rev. Jonathan Rogers