Blessing of Animals 2021
We gathered despite the Atmospheric River that was covering the Pacific Northwest!

We are here to heal, not harm.
We are here to love, not hate.
We are here to create, not destroy.
— Anthony Douglas Williams

Genesis 1: 2 & 25

‘God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind, cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make humankind”. And God blessed them. God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good.’

A Blessing For the Animals on the Feast of Saint Francis:
—Rev. Jan Richardson

You who created them
and called them good:
bless again these creatures
who come to us
as a blessing
fashioned of fur
or feather
or fin,
formed of flesh
that breathes with
your own breath,
that you have made
from sheer delight,
that you have given
in dazzling variety.

Bless them
who curl themselves
around our hearts,
who twine themselves
through our days,
who companion us
in our labor,
who call us
to come and play.

Bless them
who will never be
entirely tamed
and so remind us
that you love
what is wild,
that you rejoice
in what lives close
to the earth,
that your heart beats
in the heart of these creatures
you have entrusted
to our care.