Chelsea Lam is a former staff member and camp volunteer for Central Texas A Rocha & A Rocha USA. She is a homemaker with a deep love for spiritual formation, food, and living the liturgical year. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two children.
I walked over and tossed vegetable scraps in the trash with a tinge of guilt at still not having a compost system set up. Then my soul turned to the Lord with arms crossed and heels dug in as if to say, “I can’t care about compost right now” or maybe, more accurately, “I refuse to care when so many people are hurting.”
Advent and Christmas remind us that the Christ-child came to bring peace. We remember that we need peace with God, and we remember that we need peace with our neighbor. But does Christ’s birth have anything to do with bringing peace between us and animals – does the advent mean goodwill to manatees?
The Magnificat is often associated with beautiful, traditional music, but this can conceal the passionate words of a young teenager who is full of radical hopes for a new world order (…) In his mercy, God will overthrow proud rulers, reject the wealthy and complacent and raise up the poor, rejected and marginalized.
‘Christmas for animals’ may invite thoughts of unwanted puppies. Or unhappy Turkeys, or whatever animal your national Christmas dinner incorporates. But there are much more ancient traditions at work too.
