Order of worship for Blessing of the Animals service

Order of worship for Blessing of the Animals service

September 30^th, 2007

Gathering song:

Welcome and introduction to service:

Call to worship:

Offering/penny power

Dismissal to walk to Camelsback:

At the park:

1-2 Songs: Roger

Prayer of blessing and confession:

Bless all the families of the Cosmos (Portable Fellowship prayers)

Prayer of Blessing and Confession:

In Unison:

Dear God,

Bless all the families of the Cosmos this week:

star and planet families,

air, water, soil and rock families.

Men:

Let stars sing together for joy,

planets circle suns in ponderous promenade.

Let bats, bugs, birds

call, squeak and soar in indigo nights

and in vast fresh layers of dawn.

Let fish, squid and whales ripple and dive

in living rivers, lucent seas.

Women:

Let children of kudu and badger

run on sunburnt plains, chase, hide in rocks,

let cobras hunt, crickets snap, bees filch but share

in hot bushveld, humid field,

fragrant forest, dripping jungle.

Unison:

God, you are above all, through all, in all,

you are good to all;

your compassion is over all that you have made;

you save human and animal alike.

Men:

Our human family forgets gratitude,

forgets ancient wisdom,

forgets to care beyond our own close kin;

let us remember to ask the animals,

and they will teach us,

Women:

let us ask the birds of the air, and they will tell us;

let us speak to the earth so it can teach us,

and the fish of the sea will declare to us

gratitude--

that all life is blessing,

that all that is

is good.

Unison:

God, teach us to listen

with attentive hearts

and come to love and bless

all your families.

AMEN

(based on Psalm 145:9,10; 36:6b; Job 12:7-8; 38:7, Genesis 1; Ephesians 4:6)

Blessing of the animals: Linda

Sending song: Roger

Final blessing of all sentient beings, however many legs they have!

(Treats for animals; including the two-legged ones: Whitenacks and N-Ms)

Genesis 1:25:

God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 9:12-15b

God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.

Luke 12:6:

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.

A confession from selected verses from Jeremiah: 8:7; 12:10-11; 12:4abcd; 6:16abcd;

Even the stork in the heavens knows its times; and the turtledove, swallow and crane observe the time of their coming, but my people do not know the ordinance of the Lord…

my pleasant portion has been made a desolate wilderness…desolate, it mourns to me.

How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who live in it the animals and the birds are swept away…

Thus says the Lord, Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.

From the HPMF Portable Fellowship booklet of prayers:

Blessing for all the families of the Cosmos

Songs
A special song/hymn written in honor of St Francis is located in Habel Hymns Volume One. The melody is the well-known hymn Praise my Soul, the King of Heaven. The words follow.

MOTHER EARTH, OUR MOTHER BIRTHING

1. Mother Earth, our mother birthing
Ev’ry creature on the land
Jesus too was flesh and breathing,
Kin to all every greening plant.
Celebrate with all creation:
God has joined the web of life.

2. Sister Air, our sister lifting
Ev’ry creature born with wing;
Jesus shared the breath of forests,
Breath that makes our spirits sing.
Celebrate with all creation:
God has joined the web of life.

3. Brother Water, brother pulsing
Deep through ev’ry vein and sea,
Jesus drank the very raindrops
For our wine and in our tea.
Celebrate with all creation:b
God has joined the web of life.

4. Father Fire, our father burning
With the sacred urge to live.
Jesus' death completes the cycle,
Bringing life beyond the grave.
Celebrate with all creation:
God has joined the web of life.

Other songs that quickly come to mind:

All God’s critters got a place in the choir, Bill Staines

Joyful, joyful we adore thee, 71

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, #156