farm service with pet blessing

On Sunday, we held our annual outdoor service, this time at the beautiful Carfrae Farm. Of course, after weeks of sunny and hot weather, Sunday was the first day of heavy rain, which - while much appreciated by the farmers and gardeners in our midst - meant that we held the service in a shed rather than in the garden, as planned.

As part of the service, we sang hymns like 'All creatures of our God and King', 'How great thou art' and 'For the beauty of the earth', prayed in the words of St Francis of Assisi, and heard a blessing by Fyodor Dostoevsky. We also had invited pets to join us at the service, and offered a blessing (alongside treats): 'You were created by God, and you are loved by God. May you and your family experience joy and companionship together, and continue to be a blessing to each other. Amen.'

After the service, we shared lunch together, with many dishes brought along by different members of the congregation.

We are very grateful to Hamish and his daughter Trudi at Crafrae Farm, and their whole team, for making us so welcome. Hamish and his late wife Dot have long been involved with our church, Dot as a daughter of the manse herself (in her case at Athelstaneford) and Hamish as longstanding elders. Long before our union, they were already the original members of both Yester and Garvald Churches.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote,
Love all God’s creation,
the whole and every grain of sand of it.
Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light.
Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.
If you love everything,
You will perceive the divine mystery in things.
Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it
Better every day.
And you will come at last to love the whole world
With an all-embracing love

In the words of St Francis of Assisi:
God our Heavenly Father,
you created the world to serve humanity's needs
and to lead them to you.
By our own fault,
we have lost the beautiful relationship
which we once had with all your creation.
 
Help us to see that by restoring our relationship with you
we will also restore it with all your creation.
Give us the grace to see all animals as gifts from you
and to treat them with respect, for they are your creation.
We pray for all animals.
May they be treated with care,
and may their lives reflect the glory of your creation.
Amen