Seasons, Cats, and Advent Hope

Offered for EDSJ Friday Reflection – December 15, 2023

Deacon Alison Fischer

One of my favorite aspects of God’s divine orchestration of creation is the cyclical and rhythmic nature of seasons and days. We experience the chaos of change of our natural world within a structure that enables us to have confidence in what lies ahead. Seasons offer change that provide assurance of beginnings, endings, growth, and renewal. The dependable rhythm of our natural world enables our ability to witness and trust in God’s greater orchestration for the thriving of creation and not be overwhelmed by present circumstances. The concurrent rhythm and structure of our Episcopal tradition through the lectionary, liturgical year, and our liturgy and worship; enable us to experience our Triune God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ through an intimate and embodied faith.

Perhaps I am a Scrooge as I’m not one who holds much excitement for the holiday season. Jesus is proclaimed to be the reason for the season, but I struggle to witness him in our culture that thrives on consumption and contention. When I was younger, I found this season to be overwhelming and excessive and have held a lifelong opinion that Santa and other winter wonderland characters are creepy. Through the years, this resistance towards the holidays is found more in reckoning with the empty spaces at our tables, complicated relationships, and the suffering within my life and of the world.

However, the season of Advent is one where my melancholic soul finds refuge, renewal, and hope. Advent is a season of anticipation and miraculous fulfillment of promise. It calls us to engage in a defiant hallelujah with Christ’s life and victory over sin and death. In our humanity, we create and experience sin, suffering, and limits for ourselves and the rest of God’s creation. Through Christ’s humanity, we are offered a new way of living through an abundant embodied and radical love for God, self, and others. Advent calls us to celebrate our gracious God who chose to engage in our human experience and teach us how to embody a life and faith that enables renewal, redemption, and salvation. Advent brings us the life of Jesus Christ that teaches us how we are called to a journey towards wholeness with God.

Jesus instructs us to “keep watch” for God’s presence in our lives and for how we are called to engage with the world. When we actively seek God’s will and presence, we encounter certain people, animals, and experiences that are meant to significantly influence our ability to thrive as the holy reflections of God that we are. This Advent, I have found myself receiving a lesson of our call to patience and perseverance and trusting in God’s providence through my cats. One of the empty spaces in our home that I am grieving is that of our beloved cat, George. Fifteen years ago, I was in a dark season of trials and self-imposed separation from God, and a friend called me stating, “Hey Ali, are you interested in a kitten? This may sound crazy, but we found one and God is telling me you really need this cat.” George was a three-week old feral kitten who was found on a dirt road in west Texas. Against better judgment, I said yes, and we navigated life together through seven cities and three states. George was my first animal to solely care for and forced me to become less selfish and more responsible. In many ways, he taught me how to have a healthier understanding of love and commitment. George was not an ideal pet. He had costly health issues and would bite when he was overwhelmed. However, he was charismatic, curious, protective, and entertaining. Through the trials and solitude of chronic illness and a journey of recovery towards wholeness, George offered a faithful companionship that strengthened my willingness and ability to endure. I’m grateful my friend acted upon the prompting of the Holy Spirit, as I truly needed this cat. He was precious and beloved and taught me that I was, too.

On Easter day in 2012, a calico cat with a crooked tail followed me home from a walk and we named her Easter. Unbeknownst to us, she was pregnant, and we ended up keeping one of her kittens, Zigfried, whom we still have today. One day, Easter disappeared; we grieved, attributed this loss to the reality of life, and moved on. Years later, you can imagine our delight to learn she returned to her first home and was alive and well. It was a nice affirmation of trusting in God’s abounding love for all of creation and greater orchestration.

This past winter, days after my ordination, we learned George was dying and were gifted a holy week of caring for him as he transitioned out of this life. The grief remains profound as Jason, Ziggy, and I have reacquainted with life without our beloved friend. We moved to Stockton in July and began to consider adding another pet to our family. We trusted that we would encounter the animal as we were meant to, and this was affirmed with the arrival of three cats to our literal doorstep. The cats’ behavior conveys that they most likely have been abandoned and harmed by humans, so we have worked on slowly building a relationship of trust and care through offering food and shelter in our yards and home. Six months later, we have yet to be able to touch them; but they no longer run away from our presence, provide much needed friendship to Ziggy, and know they can rely on us for safety and nourishment. The necessary patience and persistence for these blessed creatures causes me to reflect on how our Triune God’s abiding grace is bestowed in their desire for relationship with us.

Do I wish that at least one or all of the cats would claim us as their family or to submit to the temptation to adopt a more domesticated and affectionate cat to fill George’s void? Of course. However, it seems we are called to respond to a different path and these beloved and wild creatures need caring, too. As George taught me to offer and experience a healthier and more whole love, now I have the capacity to offer it to these cats. Through patience and persistence, I am trusting that these relationships will continue to develop with a hope that God is working in ways beyond my comprehension. The weariness of grief and absence proceed to lessen as God’s abounding grace continues to offer renewal, redemption, and resurrection.

This season of Advent, whether you are limping or leaping, my prayers are that all of us may find solace and hope in the light of Jesus Christ that was, is now, and forever shall be. May we spend this season of anticipation and promise focusing on where God is in our lives and where there is opportunity to share God’s love with others. May we be receptive to the relationships and experiences that are not what we desire or anticipate but enable us to be in deeper communion with God and each other. May our communion with God enable us to journey towards God’s will rather than our own. Keep watch for the Light and have hope; as Christ is coming, Christ is here, and Christ prevails.