A Toy Rooster, An Old Blanket and God

May 24, 2009

                                A Sermon by Jan Bodin for                               First Congregational Church UCC Anoka, MN

              Several years ago friends of mine were in a car accident.  They were on their way home to Iowa when their car hit a terrible patch of ice on an overpass.  Their car rolled and rolled and rolled down a steep embankment.  As it rolled, all of the glass in the windows broke and the dog that had been sleeping in the back was thrown out of the car into the darkness.  Miraculously, my friends had only minor injuries.  But the dog was no where to be seen. 

              Our phone rang about eleven o’clock.  We were told by the emergency room that there had been an accident and that our friends were slightly injured.  Finally, we heard the voice of one of our friends on the phone.  “We don’t know what happened to Oakley,” she said.

              Deb and I immediately grabbed a couple of pictures of that golden retriever, packed a couple of things and loaded our dog into the car to drive to Iowa.  We got there early in the morning.  It was still dark.  We drove to where the accident had happened, but it was way too dark to see anything.  We drove into the little town by the freeway, but saw no signs of Oakley.

              For the next three days, we looked for the dog.  We called radio stations and told people she was missing.  We passed out flyers in dozens of places.  We talked with police departments and vets.  And we drove through the back roads near the accident scene with our windows down calling out Oakley’s name.  Then we realized that our dog, Addie, was trying to help us.  She had her toy rooster in her mouth and as we called out Oakley’s name, Addie would bite into the toy rooster and call out, “Er er er!  Ere r er!”  But there was no sign of the dog.

              The next day someone called a radio station and said that they might have seen Oakley.  They weren’t sure and the dog wouldn’t come to them.  We drove to the farm and talked with the people and walked around, but there was no sign of Oakley.  Then another person called from the same area and said the same thing.  We drove there and walked around calling out the dog’s name, but there was no sign of Oakley.

              So we went back to the first farm and under a tree, we spread out an old blanket.  On the blanket we put socks and mittens and jackets and hats and anything that might have the smell of one of our friends or one of us.  We even put a towel down that smelled like our dog.  And then we left.

              Early the next morning, just as the sun came up, we drove to the farm where we had laid the blanket.  And there in the pile of clothing, sitting very tall and scanning the horizon sat Oakley.  She was looking for us.  I jumped out of the car and called her name and she came running over to see us. We hugged and hugged and hugged that dirty dog and put her in the back seat of our car.  She smelled like a stable.  Our dog moved as far away from her as she could move.  But Oakley had been found. 

              Oakley is one of the dogs that has helped me to learn about God.   She taught me about the experience of being lost.  When we are lost, the entire community will help look for us.  Dogs with toy roosters will call to us, radio stations will put out announcements, police and firefighters will search.  Posters will be put up.  Volunteers will come.  

              And that is the same kind of work that happens in the church community.  Our job as members of the church is to make sure that people can find their way home, their way home to God.  That’s why we worship together – to make sure that people can find their way home to God.  That’s why we pray.

              In our gospel reading, we hear that Jesus went off to a lonely place and prayed.  Jesus gave us an example to follow.  He prayed.  In prayer, he found his home with God.  He prayed for his disciples and for the whole world.  He prayed for his ability to endure, to be strong, to show God’s love.  Jesus taught us that when we find our home with God in prayer, something happens.  We are changed.  When we find our home with God in prayer, God shares power with us.

              Think of a zucchini seed.  I can put in a sunny place and plant it in the soil at just the right depth.  I can water it.  I can keep the place where I planted it free of weeds.  But I cannot make that seed grow into a plant with leaves and vines and flowers and fruit.  I do not have that power.  I have only the power to plant the seed.  The seed has all the rest of the power.  We work together for the harvest.  We need each other for the harvest.

              God needs us, too.  That is why it is important for us to find our home in God.  God needs us to be people of prayer in order to share power with us.  When we find our home in God, just as Oakley found the blanket we had prepared, God is SO HAPPY.  There is such celebration!  And there are amazing possibilities.  Let us listen to the voices that are calling us home.  And let us be the voices that call to others.  Amen.

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