Monday, October 4, 2010

Sweet Creatures



When I was in elementary school, our family had a small statue of St. Francis placed on the fence in our backyard. Saint Francis was the patron saint of animals and ecology so I suppose a suburban backyard is as fitting a tribute location as any. The shrine by the flower beds of ivy was my introduction to Saint Francis and by all accounts he seems to have been a cool guy who loved animals and nature. Were he alive today, I'm betting he would be a vegan, listening to reggae in his yurt.

In honor of The Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, today our church celebrated The Blessing of the Animals. This is a semi-organized chaos wherein those brave enough to bring their pets, sit outside and watch the service on monitors while trying to keep their beasts of the field from humping random legs.

We brought Daisy with us to represent the Rosenberg herd. We met golden retrievers, chihuahuas, brindle-y mongrels and a 160 pound Great Dane named Lottie. There were cats in carriers and one in a cat stroller. There was a hamster and a turtle and a bear of the Teddy variety. Many creatures were loud and every one of them was blessed and we are blessed to know them.

Daisy found numerous butts to sniff and got a peanut butter sandwich out of the deal so she wasn't complaining either.

High five, Saint Francis.

13 comments:

  1. Love it! Good to hear the furry, feathered and slippery skinned christians got a look-in at your church!!

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  2. Hi, I have just become a follower of your blog and want to tell you that I love your style of writing and the things you share in such a way as to make them interesting for everybody. Bob sounds like a very clever little boy with a HUGE personality.

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  3. A cat in a carrier? A bit scary. . . .but it sounds like a great time! I'm with Daisy. . .never met a peanut butter sandwich that I didn't like. . .

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  4. My brother goes to the Blessing of the Bikes each year up in the mountains. It's kinda like this only with more metal and no video screens.

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  5. Ah, the cat in the stroller sounds slightly disturbing. What a fun idea with lots of butt sniffing - WOOT.

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  6. That's a church service I might actually attend. It makes my heart so happy to think of St. Francis in his yurt, eating kale and lentils and listening to reggae. Wonderful!

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  7. Our (Presbyterian) church does something similar to this. Having grown up evangelical (I tell people I grew up crazy), we didn't celebrate things like this. We did, however, have live animals in our Christmas plays that always managed to soil the aisles during their entrances.

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  8. I definitely agree that St. Francis would be a person I'd like to know . . . just so long as he wouldn't insist I give up cheeseburgers.

    But if I had to I would. As Daisy can attest, it'd be just dandy to live on only peanut butter sandwiches if necessary.

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  9. Our church is St Francis, and we just had the blessing of the pets.

    I love to see the elderly loving bring their dog or cat that has kept them company for years and years.

    It brings tears to my eyes, the relationship they have..

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  10. You totally rock, St. Francis dude! And, you have a pretty great prayer too! Also, I would do pretty much anything for a peanut butter sandwich myself.

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  11. teddy was blessed today as well my Jewish mother wasn't all that thrilled about it and it turns out my ex mother in law got a chance to go to church with MY dog and MY kid and well, that made her happy which basically cancels out any of the good the day had to offer to my dog.

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  12. The pic of your dog at the end? Make me think he's got a personality I can roll with. The slightly crazed LOVE ME look, right?

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