Blessing of the Animals!

As the Uniting Church all over Australia celebrates Sustainable September, we had the opportunity to be a part of South Perth Uniting Church's 'Blessing of the Animals' Sunday! When we arrived at church in the morning, we were greeted by many furry and feathered friends that other church members had brought along to be blessed during the service. We had never seen such a thing before (in Malaysia, many would have considered this as some kind of a heresy, maybe!), but it was a really fun and unique experience! The kids loved it of course.

Since there were animals involved, the service was held outdoors rather than in the sanctuary itself. 

Have you ever seen Agnes this close to a dog? :)

On a more serious note, maybe it IS time we learnt to embrace all of our fellow creatures and to take up our responsibility as stewards of God's creation. It's something that we Malaysian Christians are just beginning to think about theologically, but it's already deeply ingrained in some of these Australian churches. The minister gave a very thoughtful answer to the question: Will there be animals in Heaven? His reply was this: 'I don't see why God would change His mind, after all the wonderful diversity that He has created. Why would He end them here?'

The service started with a wonderful prayer:

Creator God,
You have made a beautiful world,
Just filled with wonder and surprises!
We thank You.


Creator God,
You blessed us with animals,
Those in the wild, those on farms, those in our homes.
We thank You.


Creator God,
You brought into being things that we could not imagine,
Life that we cannot see without the aid of microscopes,
Animals that we can only see in pictures from far away.
You are amazing!


Thanks for making so much Life;

For the birds we hear in the morning and evening,

For the bees droning outside,

For the vast web of life which is woven,
In circles within circles of life.


Thank You for the gift of our own animal companions;
For the joy they bring us,
For their unconditional love which teaches us about You;

For the listener, the stress releaser,
For the benefits they are to our health and to our Spirit.
Thank You

It was then followed by a prayer of confession as we sought God's forgiveness for our failures as stewards:

Forgive us when we do not see that all animals are part of Your creation with us.
Forgive us when we do not respond to your love which beats in all hearts,
to the breath You give to all creation.

There was no sermon, but the final blessing prayer went like this:

God, our Creator, help us to love all animals as partners on Earth,
All birds as messengers of praise,
All minute beings as expressions of Your mysterious design,
And all frogs as voices of hope.
Amen

Then the minister prayed for all the pets that were brought forward...

dogs...

rabbits... 

even a chicken!

According to Judy, the last time they had this, the kids even brought along earthworms and spiders!