Sunday night was fun! This is our second year to celebrate and thank God for the very special love between us and our pets during The Water’s Edge. Oct 4 was the Feast Day of St. Francis which is traditionally when this service takes place. It was messy and beautiful and real.
We had The Neel Family (the husband and wife play in the band each week, but all three of their kids are extraordinarily talented, so all 5 of them pulled together some bluegrass for us for the night) set the tone complete with mandolin, fiddle, and upright bass! They played in the background as people got to know each other and their pets – we had some “get to know you” questions on the screen (stuff like: what’s the weirdest thing your animal has ever eaten, etc.) We had a special assortment of snacks available that night – only some of which were for people. After some fellowship, we had a couple folks share about the blessing of having a pet and what it means to them. We sang a couple songs together – I’ll Fly Away & I Saw the Light. We used some liturgy to get us focussed and then John invited each family to come up one at a time to receive their blessing.
My favorite part of the night: during one of the singing songs, one dog started barking, then another joined in, and then another… mid song they were all going crazy and IN TIME to the song – awesome. We had 3 cats this year to balance out all those dogs, and we almost had a bird! Maybe next year!
Here are few photos of the night. (Click the picture to see it up close)
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- Can you find all FOUR dogs? That’s a lot of love!
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- One of McKamey’s adoptable dogs
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- Seconds before the puppy ran off!
We tried something new this year in conjunction with the blessing. Amanda (a saint with a passion for animals) set up a Pet Adoption Event at the church as one of our Random Acts of Kindness. She worked with McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center to set it up. It was raining, so the turn out was low, but it was very positive! Several of the McKamey volunteers stayed for the service and had two of the adoptable dogs blessed!! Pretty cool.
Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)
:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a very rough road. Pray for hope and healing and a willingness to hang on tight.
:: Pray for Coleman Burroughs – he will be going home soon.
:: Pray for Darlene Stone = hip replacement surgery went well – Lots of recovery ahead.
:: Pray for Christa and her sons
:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.
:: Andrea, Amanda B and Randall F are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunities.
:: Toni R has gotten a GREAT job offer! Pray all falls into place as God intends.
:: Pray for Sam Dills (and his family) as he fights cancer.
thoughts from the water's edge 