Why bless animals?
During the last week of September and the first week of October, one of the most asked questions was: “Pastor why are you and other pastors blessing animals on Oct. 6? Is it just to honor St. Francis of Assisi?”
My answer was always quite short: In part, “Yes.” St. Francis spoke to animals as “brother wolf” and “sister bird” and saw all of creation as inherently good, not as something to be exploited, and so should we. However, as pastors, we are following God’s example, who in Genesis 1:23 said: “Let the waters be alive with a swarm of living creatures, and let the birds wing their way above the earth And so it was. And God saw that it was good, and God blessed them.”
So now to a longer explanation. The Hebrew word for “to bless” is “barak” which literally means “the imparting of power or life.” Therefore, the person performing the blessing is mediating that power from God to the person or animal being blessed. To bless is more than an expression of good will and caring. The blessing of each animal, by name means that health, healing and life are being mediated from God for the benefit of the animal in its relationship with its human partners,
Therefore, I say in blessing: “Lord God, creator of all life, let your blessing be upon ______. Grant him/her good health. May the care and companionship that he/she receives and gives mirror Your bountiful love. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
The book of Genesis states clearly that animals are filled with the breath of life and that God proclaims that they are good. This blessing is a vision of the “Peaceable Kingdom” where “the wolf will lie down with the lamb…” (Is. 11:6). Therefore in this blessing of animals we are declaring our common origin and that our connections stretch all the way back to creation where God said to man: “Manage and care for this earth and these creatures FOR ME that they may develop satisfactorily.”
This blessing also stretches forward to that time when we have no need to seek dominion over any person or any part of God’s creation. As it is written in Revelation: “All creatures never cease to sing before the throne of God” (Rev. 4:8). Therefore, may we join those creatures before the throne of God singing; “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God, AlmightyYou are worthy, to receive glory and honor and power for you made the whole universe (Rev. 4:8)
Roger Lemke is Pastor at Fishers of Men Lutheran Church.