dogs | The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale

It’s time to bring your dogs, cats (maybe not), guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, geckos, pet spiders, snakes, stick insects and any other animals you have living at home to church for our annual pet service which, this year, will be at St Mark’s at 11am.

Pets are a wonderful blessing to many of us and can help our mental and physical health. So let’s give thanks for them in all their shapes and sizes and bring them for a blessing. If your pet is too large or too nervous to come to church, you can bring a picture of them instead. And if you don’t have a pet, why not bring a favourite soft toy instead? Or dress up as an animal? After all, as the hymn says: all God’s creatures got a place in the choir!

Rev’d Lexi Russell said: “Pets are indeed welcome in all forms, fluffy or scaly. Their humans will be tolerated.

“I believe that God loves all creatures. Pets are a really important part of people’s families and we want to celebrate everyone in our families.”

Pictured below is Lexi and her dog Bugsy.

There were barks, there was a lot of laughter, there may have been a couple of small accidents, and there was a lot of celebration and blessing at our three Pet Services on Sunday, October 3rd.

Thank you to everyone who came and brought their dogs, their pictures of pets and their cuddly toys, or even dressed in leopard print with a unicorn horn. There was a noticeable, but eminently sensible, lack of cats, but people brought photos of pets who really wouldn’t have dealt well with the dogs.

There was barking, wagging and a lot of enjoyment of pet treats and all the dogs, pictures and cuddly toys came forward for a blessing.

This was also a celebration of the blessings that pets can bring to us and an acknowledgement that God is the God of all – scaly, furry, smooth, two-, three-, four-, five-, six-, eight, 10-, many- and, yes, one-legged things. Snails are God’s creatures too!

As the hymn we sang says:
“All God’s creatures got a place in the choir
Some sing low and some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on a telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they’ve got now”.

Thanks again to Castle Vets for sponsoring the services.

Woof!