The Feast of St. Francis - A Service for the Blessing of the Animals

Tomorrow marks the Feast Day of St. Francis. And to celebrate, many churches will hold a special Blessing of the Animals Service to honor St. Francis’ love for creation. Saturday morning we’ll hold our Blessing of the Animals service at Mulberry. This is one of my favorite events in the life of the church because it has the potential to do some things the normal church schedule cannot do:

1. People engage with the church in a new way because they’re bringing their pets to church. Pets are members of our families and this is a special and unique way to celebrate the love of family.
2. The church is connecting to people in a unique way. This is a wonderful opportunity to engage people outside of the routine of worship, studies, and committee meetings. This is an event with no strings attached — people come, celebrate, share in a blessing, and enjoy meeting each others’ pets. It’s important for the church to find intersections where faith and real life meet and this is a certainly one of those intersections.
3. This is a great community event. Publicize this event in your community.This is a unique way to have people come to your church when they may not come on a Sunday morning. Maybe they’ll come back on Sunday — maybe not. Who cares about that. You’re offering the church as a place for the community and that’s vitally important.

Below is a simple liturgy I’ve prepared for the event. You’ll notice it’s short — Lord knows pets can get restless. Full services are great if you’re already doing them. But simple can work too. Maybe this is a service your church would like to try next year? If so, feel free to use and adapt this liturgy to best fit your context.

Litany of Thanks

Let us give thanks to God for the gifts so freely bestowed upon us.For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea;              

We thank you, Lord.

For the richness of the mountains, plains and rivers;               

We thank you, Lord.

For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women;               

We thank you, Lord.

For all creatures that breathe, and move, and have life;               

We thank you, Lord.

For the songs of birds and the loveliness of flowers and trees;              

We thank you, Lord.

For the trust you have shown in giving into our care these, our pets;              

We thank you, Lord.

That each pet here may be treasured with care;               

We pray to you, Lord.

That we may love and honor all your works, O God;               

We pray to you, Lord.

May we continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of your abundant creation. Amen.

Old Tesament Reading         GENESIS 1:24-31

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. {25} God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. {26} Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” {27} So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. {28} God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” {29} God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. {30} And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. {31} God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

This is The Word of the Lord.

     Thanks be to God.

MOMENT OF REMEMBRANCE

O Lord, we pause and give thanks for the memories of those pets we have lost.We pray for their owners who continue to mourn their loss.But most of all, we give thanks for their memoryand for the ways in which they enriched our lives. Amen.

THE BLESSING PRAYER

Creator God,We give thanks that all things belong to you.We praise you for giving us the animals, birds and fish which fill your world.We give thanks for our pets that bring us joyand who help teach us the value of unconditional love.Grant that we may good caretakers for our petsthat they may also know the joy of unconditional love.May our shared lives together always bring joy to others as we live, serve,and love all of your creatures, both great and small;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE BLESSING OF EACH PET (INDIVIDUALLY)

“(Name) may you be blessed in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May you and N. (the name of the “owner”) enjoy life together and find joy with the God who created you. Amen.”

BGosden, covered in the master's dust blog,October 3, 2013