Wild Beasts

As Lent begins let your congregation reflect not just on the private, individual journey to the cross, but on the cosmic, communal nature of God''s redeeming activity.

This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is traditionally thought of as a special period of time, once again forty days, set aside for introspection, self-denial, prayer, and study as the events of Passion week and Easter Sunday approach. As Christians we should find ourselves journeying towards the cross, drawing nearer week by week. The focus of this week's texts startle us with the suggestion that this is not a human journey only, but that all of creation accompanies us. Plants, animals, the entire earth itself, join with humanity on this spiritual homecoming, through the covenants established between God and creation eons ago.

Of all our many sins and shortcomings worthy of contemplation during the Lenten season, probably the sin of species pride, or specieism, is the one most rarely considered. If anything, Lent probably has elevated the human-centeredness of the Christian faith, focusing on the impending extraordinary acts of love and sacrifice, and on the wondrous...