Please do bring your animals with you if they are happy to travel (all animals must be tethered or enclosed). Please bring your own treats!
Now although we live in the suburbs, we’re still aware of
animals all around us, especially the farm animals we see driving down George The Fifth Avenue. Some of us may work with animals, or have pets and it’s
hard not to notice the presence of birds, squirrels, foxes and even other forms
of wildlife: even badgers are reported locally!
Our short service of blessing of animals is our opportunity to give thanks for them, to ask God’s blessing on each creaturely member of our household and to reflect on our part in caring for our planet and all the animals around us.
According to the book of Genesis in the Bible, God blessed the birds and the fish on the fifth day, and on the sixth day he blessed the animals, including Adam, the first human. So blessing animals is an original activity as old as creation itself! Adam was also given the task of naming the animals, a sign of our responsibility for and to animals.