The Blessing of the Animals at Queen Anne Christian Church
This Sunday, Oct 2 at 10 AM - You and Your Pet Companions are Invited!
Animals in the Sanctuary, Oh My!
Pet Food or Pet Supplies donations are accepted.
See items here listed by Seattle Humane. Please bring your pets that are comfortable around other animals and people. We ask that they are properly handled with a leash, crate, or other type of carrier that your pet uses. Join us in the church or through our zoom livestreams. Sundays, 10 AM PST Zoom Meeting ID: 825 8179 0294 Passcode: 1316 We look forward to connecting with you! |
We invite the joyful presence and noises of your pets for a special service of blessing and celebrating their goodness as part of creation. A Blessing of Animals witnesses to love, care, and concern for creatures and creation! A different kind of choir this Sunday.
The service is a casual, kid and pet friendly, and accessible gathering that includes song and word, blessing individual pets, sharing the meal, prayer, picture time, and light refreshments. Blessing of the Animals and Honoring St. Francis of Assissi Queen Anne Christian Church - Oct 2 at 10 AM Around the world churches honor and celebrate something that St. Francis of Assisi started almost 800 years ago: the blessing of our animals. It was Francis who first introduced the idea that human beings are only one of the myriad of creations of God and that all are blessed in God’s “eyes.” The feast day of St. Francis (the day that he died) is celebrated every year on Oct 4 and the BOA services a Sunday near that day. Story of the 1st Animal Blessing The first blessing of the animals happened like this: One warm afternoon early in his ministry (sometime between 1210-1215), Francis wandered outside of Assisi, Italy full of self-doubt, asking God if perhaps everything he had done until that point had been for the wrong reasons. Francis wondered if he should have simply gotten married and raised a family as his father wanted him to do. It was while he was praying alone to God that Francis glimpsed some birds along the path. He paused and began to speak to them as if to equals. Soon, he began to speak to them about God's glories and all the reasons why both humans and birds should know gratitude. This connection between St. Francis and animals is the single fact about him that most people know. He emphasized that creation includes more than humankind. He always called creatures his brothers and sisters, and he worked to further widen the fraternity to link humans and creatures in the same relationship with God. World Animal Day is celebrated each year on October 4th. On this day, animal life in all its forms is celebrated, and special events are planned in locations all over the globe. October 4th was originally chosen for World Animal Day because it is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, a nature lover and patron saint of animals and the environment. You are invited to bring your pets to receive a blessing at 10 AM at QACC for a service of celebration of the importance of animals in our lives and that of the created. We look forward to seeing you! Questions? Ask away! Contact Mary, Church Administrator at *260* 417 8117 office@qaccweb.org |