When our St. James staff was finally able to get back to the church, our sexton Perry checked the campus for signs of damage. Unlike so many others, unlike our beautiful cathedral, The Cathedral of All Souls, our building here at St. James was spared significant damage. That meant that our parish, close to the airport and I-26, could help in the immediate crisis when relief organizations still were not set up.
And we did, and continue to. That’s another story. (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/o3KHZEAe6iRFfrXs/?)
This story, though, is about what Perry found left behind in the school that leases our building. In the rush and crisis of Hurricane Helene, a single guinea pig had been inadvertently left unattended in its cage.
He asked me what to do with it. I said, call the school people and then rushed off in a different direction, too busy for something as insignificant as a guinea pig amid the vastness of this disaster and human suffering.
So Perry, quietly and without telling anyone, in between helping with our relief work, took it upon himself to care for the guinea pig. When he had cell service, he researched how to care for it. He tended to it lovingly with food, water, and changing its cage litter.
This morning, on the Feast of St. Francis, Perry invited me to meet the guinea pig.
It was a moment of grace and light and extravagant kindness, fitting for the day.
I thought of Francis preaching to the birds and admonishing the wolf as I saw Perry providing pastoral care to one of God’s tiniest, most insignificant creatures that would have been easily and almost certainly ignored without him.
I had been struggling with this popular feast day in which we celebrate creation and all God’s creatures in our tradition. Blessing of the Animals services are popular this time of year. But all I could think about, with the devastation of the hurricane, is just how utterly indifferent Helene was—and Mother Nature is—to human survival.
But, I suppose, that doesn’t mean we have to be indifferent to creation and God’s creatures. And, so, yes our Blessing of the Animals service is canceled at St. James this year, but just know, that there was still a blessing of an animal at our parish the year of Hurricane Helene, by our sexton.
It was a reminder that small things matter in a big disaster. They really matter. As a staff, we gathered today to check in and we are all overwhelmed by the scale of suffering, much of it still unknown. But it has been a difficult week in Western North Carolina. Perry’s care of this abandoned guinea pig was a reminder that every bit of patience, kindness, and love extended is needed right now, even when we extend it to ourselves. We don’t even know the guinea pig’s name, or if it’s a boy or girl, or how to tell. So we just decided to name them Francis in honor of today.
So on St. Francis Day and on Francis’ Name Day, let’s remember that when we encounter each other, for the next several weeks, let’s just assume, as a wise friend reminded me, that everyone is having the worst day of their lives and respond accordingly. It’s a reminder that everyone is still so tender from trauma, even as they help one another.
Why am I writing this? Because I need to hear it and I need to write it. Because maybe we all need a little hope. I bet you have your own story of a small thing you’ve seen in the post-Helene recovery that has reminded you of goodness, given you hope, and helped you see the light of God’s love and grace. I’d love to hear it.
—The Rev. David Henson