Friends,
On Saturday I’m going to be blessing animals in the courtyard of Montclair Presbyterian Church, and here are two reasons why you should bring your animals to be blessed.
First, in the ancient wisdom of the bible’s ancient mythology, we find that animals were our friends before humans were our friends. This is in the second chapter of Genesis:
Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
The story goes on to tell us that animals weren’t enough, and so God created human companionship, but I think our animal relationships remain important and worthy of blessing.
The other reason we should bless Animals, is that it is a way of honoring the memory of Saint Francis, a great human and Christian peacemaker who preached to animals when he found humans to be too dense. He felt the need for “pre-human” companionship, and he also understood that true and holistic peace must include peace with the non-human world. It’s a message worth remembering, especially in the presence of animals.
So bring your animal friends to church at 12:15 PM on Saturday and we’ll all be blessed.
Peace (and woof),
Ben