blessings on the beasts

My favorite picture from last year's blessing when we went 

to the local campground to bless the pets 

of the homeless population there (other campers, too).

We honor St. Francis today with our annual blessing of the animals. I'm trying to steal a moment here before heading to the church for that occasion. When that's over I'll head to the university for homecoming events and to hang out at the church booth!

It's been a loooonnnng week. And to think that I forgot to mention that I had a newsletter to write and put out when I itemized my list of to dos earlier! It turned out to be eight pages long--not bad for a small, struggling church! At least we're busy while we're at it.

Ken is off to the mountain this weekend on the closing retreat with his Companions in Christ class. It's been a great experience for him to lead the group, and though he's been ambivalent at times about doing it again immediately (January), I think the impending reality that he will miss his role, and the community formed, has led him to offer it again. So says the newsletter, anyway!

Tomorrow we dedicate our new plantings, and I am even fairly relaxed about Tuesday's breast cancer service. I've recruited two wonderful sopranos to sing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu. They will sing at the end of the service, before the blessing and dismissal, and while they sing members of the congregation will be invited to light congregational candles from the pascal candle in the sanctuary, a symbol of the lives lost whose light shines on in love and our memories. At the dismissal those with candles will be asked to place them in a large metal tub filled with sand outside the door, where the collective light will shine and burn until the candles burn out. I get goosebumps thinking about it. Now we just cross our fingers and offer prayers that people will come to the service! It DID get a "best bets" write up in the coming events section of the paper yesterday. Thank you for that, Tennessean!

Off to get dressed and try to visit blogs before I head out the door. I sure have missed you all this week!