On Sunday we were once again reminded of some of the wonder of God’s creation with the Blessing of the Animals. We’re one of few churches that does it inside the church, during the main service (as opposed to outside on the front lawn, in the afternoon).

Bringing animals into church is a little wild and crazy. I mean, let’s face it. You never know what they’re going to do. Will they get loose? Make noise? Make a mess? Howl during the hymns? Yelp during the sermon?

Celebrating the first Sunday in Creation Season the way we do it, with our animals in church the whole time, is risky, because there’s no way to know if the rabbit will get nervous and eat all of the rabbit chow that its owners have brought to help keep it calm, if an excited child will set off a chain reaction with unfortunate consequences among the cats and birds, or if the dogs will tune their ears to some higher pitch and let their inner pack animal shine. It’s just so unpredictable. But celebrate we do, and it was good.

Celebrating Creation Season and the Feast of St. Francis with our furry and not so furry friends reminds us, once again, that relationships of all kinds involve risk, and that God has a wild side. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Yours in faith,
Cynthia