“I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days.” Bill Dana

“Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.” Daniel 1:3-21

A lot of people do not like cats because of their aloofness and their independence. Cats and dogs will both greet you at the door — but cats will abandon you as soon as they determine you are not going to feed them. Dogs and cats both want you to pet them – but one of my cats will bite you as soon as you linger in the petting department too long. Cats and dogs both look out the window – and while your dog is watching for you to come home, my cats are watching the birds, squirrels, and rabbits, if not the leaves blowing around the yard and squeaking the entire time. If you come home, they only want to know if you are ready to feed them yet. And, if you spend some time training your dog, you might get them to roll over, shake hands and perhaps play dead in a brief Shakespearean manner. Trying to train your cat is like trying to get Lutherans to sit in the front of the church – neither of them do that.

We must never give up on teaching the faith – to our children and to new converts to the faith. In fact all of us could use a good refresher course on the basics of faith once in a while – including the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed and the teachings of Jesus. It is clear to me that many in our churches today are biblically illiterate. We do not encourage people to memorize scripture any more. The most many Lutherans may know about scripture is the parts of our liturgy they have memorized and say rotely every Sunday morning. And they probably do not know that our liturgy is mostly comprised of scripture.

My cats may not be interested in any training, but we should always be looking for ways to train ourselves in faithful living, and train ourselves in learning the basics of the faith.

Pastor Dave

“When my cats aren’t happy, I’m not happy. Not because I care about their mood but because I know they’re just sitting there thinking up ways to get even.” Percy Bysshe Shelley

On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. ⁹ A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. ¹² Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.” Acts 20:7-12

What do my cats do most of the day? They sleep. What do they do most of the night? They run around the house – and pause once in a while to wake me up to tell me it might soon be time to feed them, or pet them, or pay attention to their needs. And what is going on in the mind of a cat is truly a mystery. Sometimes I am certain they are just waiting – plotting – seeking a way to do me in so they can take control – of the house – of the food distribution. We have one cat who will climb on your chest in the middle of the night and put her face within two inches of yours. She then will take her paw and place it on your face if you do not immediately respond by petting her. If that does not get your immediate attention, she will lick your nose. If you pet her, you better be prepared to continue, or the process begins all over again. Sleeping is not an option if she wants your attention.

Eutychus fell asleep while listening to one of Paul’s long sermons. He did not pick the best place to sit down – here it was in the window sill – and as such he fell to his death. Paul came down immediately and raised the young man back to life. And then, Paul began preaching again. Some might think his actions were not completely compassionate – going back to his sermon and all. But, at least Paul stopped long enough to bring the man back to life.

I attended a wedding a few months ago – I was not performing the wedding, I was simply attending as the pastor in residence. During the wedding one of the bridesmaids passed out. The pastor officiating the wedding stopped for about thirty seconds, just enough time to make sure the girl had not died – and then he returned to his preaching. He was not administering the vows, or the ring ceremony – not even the blessing. He was preaching a homily on why those in the congregation who did not have a personal relationship with Jesus had better get right with G-d. I was embarrassed and appalled that the pastor in charge did not at least pause for a few minutes to make sure the girl was really ok – but I was angry that he went right back to brow-beating the congregation.

Look, I agree that many of us have a sleepy faith. Just like my cats, we would rather sleep instead of getting up Sunday morning – we would rather nap than get out to help serve a meal, volunteer at the food bank, or stay up late to serve on a committee. It is hard to stay up late and read our bibles. But if we sleep through our faith lives, our regular lives may be that much more difficult – making our falls harder, and our journeys more difficult.

Pastor Dave