Blessing of the Animals

This morning was the Blessing of the Animals service at my church, and it was everything I had hoped.  For one thing, everyone there (including me) was straight out of the Preppy Handbook - never have I seen so many Chocolate Labs and King Charles Spaniels.  There was also an array of rescued Greyhounds, some with missing limbs and others with surgery scars, but all of whom were happy to be in a crowd of animal lovers.  It was standing room only, so we sat on the floor at the back, and Mollie lay down quietly amid the cacophony.  The woman next to me had a Pointer puppy named Pinto who alternated between leaping around and sitting on me.  She said, "Thank goodness you're an animal lover."  Mollie was extremely well behaved, and she even stood up for the reading of the Gospel.  There were no parrots in attendance, alas, but there were some hamsters inside those plastic balls, and a few brave cats.  I was disappointed when I overheard someone saying that they had left their iguana at home.  The role of "escaped animal running crazily through the congregation" was played by a Jack Russell Terrier, who embraced the role with gusto.  He was eventually captured, and as his owner carried him away, he had an expression of doggie pride at a job well done.  During the Eucharist the priest went through the congregation to bless all the critters and those who care for them. At coffee hour we chatted with another priest who is heavily into cat rescue and was full of stories about Border Collies who have real jobs herding sheep in Colorado.