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St Mark's Church

Bring your pets to church

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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.

Craft, Events, Harvest, Inclusion, Kitty Milroy, LGBTI+, magazine, music, Prayer, Social Events

Your September Magazine is here!

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Autumn is, just about, here and so is our September magazine. Inside you can find news on upcoming events including our Pride services on September 7th, our Pet service, Craft Market, Harvest Festival, Harvest Supper, a concert from Out of the Shadows and Heritage Open Days. There is spiritual reflection and prayer, reports on events and the Church Cat and the Church Dog vying for your attention.

There are plenty of adverts too so please do use the companies who kindly advertise in our magazine. They enable us to keep going.

Download the magazine below:

September 2025Download

Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Bring your pets to church!

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If you go down to church this Sunday (October 1st), be prepared for a surprise. Along with the singing there will be barking, maybe a little squawking and squeaking, and even some slithering when we hold a pet service at each of the churches.

Pets of all shapes and sizes will be welcomed to St John’s at 9.30am, St George’s at 10am and St Mark’s at 11am, for a service to celebrate our pets and ask for God’s blessing on them. Anyone who doesn’t want to bring their pet but still wants to celebrate them and have them blessed is encouraged to bring a photo of the pet. Children are welcome to bring toy pets and come dressed as animals too.

We are holding the service on the first Sunday of October as it is close to the feast day of St Francis of Assisi which is on October 4th. St Francis was known for his love of and care for animals and is often depicted with them. Our pets bring us great joy and are part of God’s creation so we want to celebrate them and give thanks for everything they give us. For many people having a pet is an enormous comfort and can help our mental health by reducing stress and anxiety. They can also be great companions especially to people who are on their own.

The services will be chaotic and great fun, so please come along! However, there will also be an earlier communion service at St George’s at 9am for people who prefer their worship without animal accompaniment!

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Bring your pets to church

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We invite barking, squeaking, chirping and maybe even a little slithering at church on Sunday, October 2 when the parish holds a pet service at each of its three churches.

Pets of all shapes and sizes will be welcomed to St John’s at 9.30am, St George’s at 10am and St Mark’s at 11am, for a service to celebrate our pets and ask for God’s blessing on them. Anyone who doesn’t want to bring their pet but still wants to celebrate them and have them blessed is encouraged to bring a photo of the pet. Children are welcome to bring toy pets and come dressed as animals too.

Rev’d Stella Wiseman says: “We decided to hold the service on October 2nd as it is a day which celebrates St Francis of Assisi who was known for his love of and care for animals and is often depicted with them. Our pets bring us great joy and are part of God’s creation so we want to celebrate them and give thanks for everything they give us. For many people having a pet is an enormous comfort and can help our mental health by reducing stress and anxiety. They can also be great companions especially to people who are on their own.

“We expect the services to be chaotic and great fun, so please come along! However, there will also be an earlier communion service at St George’s at 9am for people who prefer their worship without animal accompaniment!

To join in the fun, come to any of the three churches on Sunday, October 2.

Children and Youth, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

All God’s Creatures got a Place in the Choir

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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!

Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Bring your pets to church!

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We are holding a pet service at each of our three churches on Sunday, October 3.

Bring your dogs, rabbits, rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, spiders, snakes or whatever other pet you own for a blessing at any of the services – 9.30am at St John’s, Hale, 10am at St George’s, Badshot Lea, and 11am at St Mark’s, Upper Hale. Cats are obviously welcome too but tend to be difficult to herd into anywhere, let alone a church where there are other animals. If you like you can bring a toy pet or photo of your pet and children are welcome to come dressed as animals too.

Castle Vets, which has a branch at 131 Upper Hale Road, just up the road from St Mark’s (and where the Church Cat receives her excellent care), is kindly sponsoring the publicity for the services. You can contact them on 01252 718128 or visit www.castlevetsltd.co.uk/

“We decided to hold the service on October 3rd as it is a day which celebrates St Francis of Assisi who was known for his love of and care for animals and is often depicted with them,” says Rev’d Lesley Crawley. “We want to celebrate the joy of our pets as part of God’s creation, and give thanks for what they give to us. For many people having a pet is an enormous comfort and can help our mental health by reducing stress and anxiety. They can also be great companions especially to people who are on their own.

“We expect the services to be chaotic and great fun, so please come along!”

So bring your pet, and celebrate. You may just find yourself singing ‘All God’s creatures got a place in the choir’!

Picture by Hannah Lim on Unsplash.