“And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
- Luke 9:58, NRSV
Early last Thursday morning, I looked out my kitchen window. At first, I thought I saw a large cat disappearing into the rosemary at the edge of my deck. Then, I realized it wasn’t a cat at all. It was a gray fox! I had never seen a fox in my backyard before – lots of deer, hawks, owls, rabbits, possums, raccoons, a coyote, king and rat snakes, voles, and other creatures – but no fox. He or she was gorgeous with tawny, ginger-brown-and-white fur on delicate legs leading up to the chest. The thick, richly-gray coat on its face and back culminated in a splash of black at the end of the tail. What a magnificent, graceful creature! I was enthralled.
This fox proceeded to investigate the perimeter of my deck, and I was able to take a few pictures to try to capture the moment. Dark eyes, and a dark nose at the end of the long, slender muzzle peered back at me.
I feel some kinship to Peter on the mountain at the Transfiguration. He wants to build booths to memorialize the moment. I want to do the same whenever I have these wildlife moments. They are always a time of such privilege, awe, and joy for me. I want to save them and savor them. I want them to last.
In the next couple of years, development is scheduled to take away the little woods behind my house. There will probably be more fences that will close off the wildlife highway that runs through the middle of the subdivisions, as it does in many places in Charlotte. That loss of habitat grieves me deeply. The large old trees that shelter the hawks, owls, smaller birds, insects, and small animals will be gone. The foxes will not have holes; the birds will not have nests.
This past Sunday, Director of Outreach & Mission Laura Konitzer and I had a conversation with Liz Clasen-Kelly, CEO of Roof Above, a long-time partner of Christ Church and one of the leading advocates in the areas of homelessness and housing affordability. Probably because of this recent transcendent moment with the fox, the line from either Matthew’s (8:20) or Luke’s (9:58) Gospel came to mind. We were talking about the very human predicament of experiencing homelessness, and I noted the deep kinship that Jesus must feel to those who do not have a stable dwelling place.
If we are to walk the way of Jesus, then we have much work to do to ensure that this is a city (county, state, country) where everyone has a place to call home. And when I say everyone, I include not only all of us humans created in the image of God, but also all the creations of God’s imagination, not the least of which is a beautiful, inquisitive fox and the woods in which it dwells.
O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you an the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, p. 259)