Blessing of the Animals Service for the Public

Images, clockwise from top: detail of mosaic of Saint Francis of Assisi from the Saint Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse, NY; "Noah's Ark," by Edward Hicks, 1846; "Offering the Buffalo Skull--Mandan," by Edward Curtis, 1908; "Strength," from the Gaian Tarot, Joanna Powell-Colbert; "Unitarian Universalist Chalice World Flame," by Christia Cummings-Slack.


This Saturday, we are holding a Blessing of the Animals ceremony on the front lawn. One of our organizers is very savvy with PR, and she wrote a good press release that got picked up by the NPR station. It has been announced several times a day for a week already.

It looks like this service will be no small affair. I feel excited and nervous about that.

As a bit of background, the Blessing of the Animals is a religious service offered by many Catholic, Episcopal, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist organizations. It's often held around this time of year, early October, which corresponds with St. Francis of Assisi Day, as well as the Noah's Ark portion of the yearly reading of the Torah. I have never been to one before, but in researching the one we planned for this weekend, I came to understand that what most of these services have in common is a recognition that animals are a special gift in our lives, an honoring of their inherent goodness, and a dedication to treating them well.

For my part, I am going to be presenting the Time for All Ages story about the Blessing of the Animals, as well as doing the blessing itself with a willow stick and water from our waters of the world basin. What I'd like to share here is the text that I'm using for the Time for All Ages story, as well as a picture (above) of the felt board that will be mounted near the altar at the front of the lawn. There is an existing Blessing of the Animals text by Connie Dunn and Kirsten Robinson on the Spirit Play training CD.  I borrowed the structure and some verbiage from their excellent piece, and tailored the content and wording to our particular audience and purpose:

St. Francis and the Blessing of the Animals

Spirit Play story for use with entire congregation, based on the work of Connie Dunn

Materials

Green feltboard on an easel or otherwise supported and pointed toward audience

Items: Large (8x10ish) picture of St. Francis of Assisi, Noah’s Ark, a colorful UU chalice, Gaian Tarot image of person and animal, Edward Curtis image of plains Indian honoring bison spirit, all backed with Velcro (see below for examples)

Presentation

St. Francis was a Catholic monk. He believed that animals and the earth were good and important gifts from God.

Place the picture of St. Francis on the felt board.

St. Francis said, “All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures.” He is said to have treated animals with great love and kindness during his lifetime. He told people to take care of their animals as they took care of themselves. October 4 is the Catholic St. Francis feast day.

Place Noah’s Ark on the board.

Blessing the animals is an old Jewish tradition. While sometimes the Jewish Ceremony of Blessing the Animals is performed on the seventh day of Passover in the Spring, it is more often celebrated when the Torah reading is about Noah’s Ark, around this time of the fall.

Unitarian Universalism shares a heritage with Judaism and Christianity, and also has a tradition each fall of recognizing and giving thanks for how important and beloved animals are in our lives.

Place on the felt board a picture of a chalice.

Our seventh Unitarian Universalist principle is to care for the earth and all those who live on it. We value being part of the interconnected web of all existence—all creatures, people, and plants depend on each other and need clear water, clean air, and a healthy planet to call home. We humans are the ones who can decide to protect animals and the earth from harm, and Unitarian Universalists work together to make that happen.

            Place picture of “Strength” tarot card showing woman and lion. (Gaian Tarot)

Pagans view animals, both pet and wild, as sacred earthlings and kindred spirits, embodying special aspects of the God and Goddess. They recognize animals as helpers who are connected with that which is unspoken, but is seen, felt, tasted, heard, smelled, and perceived all around us.

Place picture of Native American honoring the animal spirits on the board.

Many Native American traditions also see the animals as spiritual brothers and sisters. Some Native Americans—and pagans, too—also see plant life as spiritual kin. Before harvesting food from the ground or hunting animals, birds, or fish, those who follow a Native American spiritual path might talk to these living beings and tell them why they are harvesting or hunting them. In this way, people stay grounded in the understanding that for all we eat, something has grown on this planet and given its life to fill our human bellies.

I wonder what all these traditions have in common?

I wonder if people of every religion, in every time, have experienced special connections with animals?

I wonder what part of this was new to you, that you maybe heard for the first time?

I wonder if you see yourself and the animal or animals you love somewhere in this story?

Edited to add:

This is what our altar looked like after the Blessing of the Animals service. (The green felt board was up on the altar as I told the story, but we moved it afterward so that the pictures of past beloved pets could be seen.) It went great! It was interesting to see how people responded to the story. At the very beginning, it seemed as if people didn't quite know what to make of the story. I don't know if the Saint Francis reference followed by Noah's Ark was a bit too Christian for them or what, but there was a little resistance in the body language and energy of the room. But, by the time I got to the part about UUism and the environmental aspects of taking care of animals, plants, and the earth, people were back into it. And they really seemed to like the Pagan and Native American pieces. I tried--and am trying--to remember that my job is not to make people comfortable and happy, but to give them the information and experiences that will help them to make the world a better place. That's a hard, but pretty dang amazing job.