Black Cat! OH NO! Our Season of Faith begins September 21...

Black cat! Oh no!

Have you ever been tempted to go home and dive under the bed when a black cat crosses your path? Okay. Maybe that’s too dramatic. But, maybe with that small voice of doubt whispering in your ear, you’ve thought to yourself, “Oh no! I hope I don’t have bad luck today!” Or maybe you just knocked on wood to reassure yourself that good luck was still coming your way.

Though cats of all colors throughout history have often been associated with good luck rather than bad, life took a sudden wrong turn for the black ones in the Dark Ages when, in 1232 AD, a papal bull by Pope Gregory IX declared them an “incarnation of Satan.”

Things only went downhill from there. 

Folks in the Middle Ages started burning black cats in bonfires on Holy Days like Shrove Tuesday, the first Sunday of Lent, and even Easter. Much later, Puritans in America connected them to the practice of witchcraft. Maybe, it’s the black cats who should think, “Oh no!”

Well, there you have a temptation, with deep theological roots, that holds no water. 

Or does it! Might there be others? Right in front of our church-loving eyes?

During Our Season of Faith 2025, Rev. Jamie Brame will wrestle with temptations, spiritual temptations, not cats, for four Sundays, September 21 through October 12. It should be quite a match! Music will be provided by The Four Temptations, four shows only.

Our contest with temptation is only three Sundays away. Don’t succumb to the temptation to skip it. And be kind to black cats.

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