Christmas Eve 2007 Luke 2:1-20
It didn’t strike me until this year, really, that the gospel stories on Jesus birth and descriptions of the manger scene are incomplete. Significantly lacking. Think about it – where are the rest of the animals – only sheep are mentioned in the gospels. But most of the larger manger scenes we set up for Christmas have all sorts of animals. After all, animals must have been part of that first Christmas scene.

We have songs about them: In “Away in the Manger, “the cattle are lowing” and in the “Little Drummer Boy,” “the ox and the lamb kept time.” And sheep appear in Go Tell it on the Mountain, O Come all ye Faithful, Angels from the Realms of Glory, and the First Noel. Cattle and donkeys appear in various other Christmas carols and hymns.

There is one carol that lumps together a lot of “The Friendly Beasts.”
Jesus, our brother, kind and good,
Was humbly born in a stable rude;
And the friendly beasts around Him stood.
Jesus, our brother, kind and good.
"I," said the Donkey, shaggy and brown,
"I carried His mother up hill and down;
I carried His mother to Bethlehem town."
"I," said the Donkey, shaggy and brown.
"I," said the Cow, all white and red,
"I gave Him my manger for His bed;
I gave Him my hay to pillow His head."
"I," said the Cow, all white and red.
"I," said the Sheep, with the curly horn,
"I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm;
He wore my coat on Christmas morn."
"I," said the Sheep, with the curly horn.
"I," said the Dove, from the rafters high,
"I cooed Him to sleep that He should not cry;
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I."
"I," said the Dove, from the rafters high.
Thus every beast by some glad spell,
In the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Emmanuel,
The gift he gave Emmanuel.

But none of them mention two animals which had to be nearby or in that stable manger. Can anyone guess which two? Where are the dogs and cats?

There is “Dog Theology” and there’s “Cat Theology.” Dog Theology is “You feed me. You pet me. You shelter me. You love me. You must be God!” But “Cat Theology is “You feed me. You pet me. You shelter me. You love me. I must be God.” In a Far Side cartoon a scientist announced a breakthrough in understanding cat language: “They say only two things: ‘Where’s my dinner?’ and ‘Everything here is mine.’”

Dogs and cats are the forgotten creatures of the manger scene in Luke’s gospel. But surely one or two of each were around that night when the angels sang and the stars danced in the sky. And surely, if they were there, they saw it all. After all can it be hard to believe that dogs and cats were nearby?

Some people love their dogs and cats so much that they believe that they are guardian angels sent by God to be their companions when needed, in sorrow and joy, ill health and good, when sad and lonely. Some people even want the ashes of their dogs and cats to be mixed with and buried with them, if you can believe that.

If you can believe that. Why not.? It’s probably easier for some people to believe that than to believe the main action in the manger scene and a whole bunch of angels singing to shepherds and giving them directions to the manger. That seems impossible unless you believe what happened on the night of the first Incarnation -- God so loved the world he sent the Christ child to us,

A popular college religion text, Zuckermann’s Invitation to the Sociology of Religion says that the truth claims of religion are “mind-boggling, implausible,” “fantastical,” “manifestly unbelievable.” In other words, impossible. So what. The whole category of “impossible” is God’s category. The impossible is the very definition of God. Only when we cross the border from the possible to the impossible are we in God’s territory. Faith does NOT stand to reason, nor does faith depend on reason. Faith is the art of the impossible. (1)

In fact, because what happened in that manger over 2000 years is so unreasonable we can understand it only because we believe it. No explanation necessary except that was God’s love, a love so great we can never explain it. We’re just wrapped in it all our days.

Amen

NOTE: Inspired by and parts of the above adapted from “In Life, Nothing Works but the Impossible, Collected Sermons, Leonard Sweet, ChristianGlobe Networks, 2007, eSermons.com

1. As quoted in the above.