“Wild Old Dog” by Patty Griffin
Reflection
God is a wild, old dog
Someone left out on the highway
I seen him running by me
He don't belong to no one now
It’s a bit unsettling to think of God as a mangy, dirty dog running along the highway. It feels a bit like sacrilege. God is the one who sits on the throne. The very hem of God’s garment fills the earth. He rides the clouds like a chariot. Thunder and fire go before him in a royal entourage. So to say that God is a stray dog, sniffing around garbage cans hoping to find a little food, is almost profane. It diminishes God’s glory.
I can’t help but wonder if our disgust at the idea of God as a wild, old dog doesn’t actually say something about us? Why do we need God to be pristine? Deep down, do we hold tight to the oft-quoted-but-not-biblical-sentiment that cleanliness is next to godliness, which means God could never be a dirty mutt? Maybe we don’t want a wild God? Maybe we’d prefer a God who is a bit more domesticated, like a golden retriever who is a good addition to our family and is well-behaved?
It occurs to me that perhaps we find it repugnant that a holy God might ever be associated with anything so common as a dog (but never a cat. That’s a bridge too far). God is holy. To be holy is to be separate and distinct from that which is unholy. And so holiness conjures up these images of things of unparalleled value. They’re priceless artifacts like the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s David. Cavernous cathedrals with ornate altars are holy. Days like Christmas and Easter and Sunday are set apart from every other day, and therefore holy. Holy things, we assume, are uncommon. Could a holy God ever be as common as a stray dog? Could God be so lowly? Could God be so easy to overlook?
People said the same thing about Jesus:
“Jesus? The Messiah? He’s from Nazareth. Nothing good comes from there.” “He eats and drinks with sinners.” “Isn’t he Joseph, the carpenter’s son?” “He saved others. Let’s see him save himself.”
God, revealed in Jesus, was willing to get dirty; willing to be thought less of; willing to be rejected by the important people; willing to be killed by those who thought he was a nuisance.
He dropped him out on 93
Mange was setting in on his hips and on his knees
Between the highways running north and south
Pulled on over and we put him out
All this raises a question for me: “Would I discard God as easily as a wild, old dog?”
I want, with all the conviction of Peter who couldn’t fathom the thought of denying Jesus, to say that I would never abandon God. But maybe I would. If I’m honest.
And yet, God would never abandon me.
Links
Lyrics
God is a wild, old dog
Someone left out on the highway
I seen him running by me
He don't belong to no one now
He dropped him out on 93
Mange was setting in on his hips and on his knees
Between the highways running north and south
Pulled on over and we put him out
Willie said he was old and going blind
Mama told me how she didn't mind
When Willie kicked him with his shoe
He just climbed on in, just like he knew
God is a wild, old dog
Someone left out on the highway
I seen him running by me
He don't belong to no one now
It's lonely on the highway
Sometimes a heart can turn to dust
Get whittled down to nothing
Broken down and crushed
In with the bones of
Wild, old dogs
Wild, old dogs
He dropped him out on 93
Tall grass was waving there just like the sea
And he tore off running like we'd set him free
Just disappeared right in front of me
God is a wild, old dog
Someone left out on the highway
I seen him running by me
He don't belong to no one now
He don't belong to no one now
For Further Reflection
How does the idea of God as a ‘wild, old dog’ sit with you?
How do you define ‘holy?’ How do you define ‘common?’
How might you be more attentive to the possibility of God in those things which you deem beneath God?
Read Romans 8:35-39. Simply sit with the idea that nothing can cause God to abandon you.
To further reflect on the idea of common things being holy, consider listening to “Holy Now” by Peter Mayer
Thank you Nate that you are able to connect the suffering of Jesus to this song. What Jesus gave up for us, to save and redeem us. This is humbling truth and grace.
I so love this song, the sentiment that God as a wild old dog . Beautiful thought. I don’t know who Gods is. I know He is not the old bearded white man sitting on a throne meting out punishment. I love the quote I heard at a twelve step meeting; “I don’t understand God, I experience Her”.