2026 Animal Blessing

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Rev. Carrie Holley-Hurt
February 1, 2026
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

To paraphrase Parker Woodland, “The world’s on fire, and we are still going to find joy.” Joy that nourishes us and joy that sustains us. In that spirit, please join us to bless the beloved animal companions in our lives. In these challenging times let us honor our animal companions who are such a vital source of our joy and resilience.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

THE STATE OF BLISS
excerpted from Blessings of the Animals: Celebrating Our Kinship With All Creation
– by Reverend Gary Kowalski

Don’t animals teach us about blessing, about joy! They remind us to be satisfied with what we have. Not one of them is worried about the stock market. Not one of them wants to run for Congress or govern the animal kingdom. None brags that their religion is better than their neighbor’s. Each is satisfied with just a little: fresh water, healthy food, and enough room to nest or den. None needs a passport or travel documents or immigration papers, because they don’t live in a state like Arizona or Texas that cares about such things. They live in a state of bliss.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Reading

– by Henry Beston

We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creatures through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion.

We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, we greatly err. For the animals shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.

They are not brethren, they are not underlings, They are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.

Prayer

– by Albert Schweitzer

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals, especially for animals who are suffering, for any that are hunted or lost, or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death. We entreat for them all thy mercy and pity and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words. Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals and so to share the blessings of the merciful.

Sermon

For the last six or so months, when someone asks me what my theological argument is for say…trans people, queer relationships, a world in which no one is exploited, really anything that that person is struggling to understand because it was outside their own narrow context.

I simply say Platypuses. – Y’all, we live on a planet with platypuses,
Echidnas
Superb Bird of Paradise, So beautiful some one called them Superb!
Star nosed mole
Octopusi – they can squeeze their body in the tiniest spots.
Manatee,- Will hug you
Elephants – gather apples in a pile so they can go back and have a party when they ferment
Tardigrade, also known as water bears
and don’t even get me started on the animals that lived before us….

The creatures on this planet are proof that life is beautiful, interesting, weird, and diverse.

But for some reason, our species, us mammals, we Homo sapiens, want to make things boring And of course #notallhuman – But so many want to – Narrowing down what its supposed to mean to be our kind of animals. Refusing to see the beauty and creativity of creation, of which we are a part.

And so while today is a blessing of the animals, I want us to remember that we are also animals and because of that, let us learn from these precious members of creation.

Our dog friends who when we stare into their eyes both of our bodies flood with oxytocin – Teaching us that we are meant to be connected.

Our cat friends – often distributed to our homes by the universe’s cat distribution system – confidently and gracefully making your home theirs. Teaching us about taking up space and being true to ourselves.

And I know its not just cat and dog friends – We have so many animal companions, and I bet you could tell me about the blessing they are to you. About what they teach you.

Maybe you would tell me of the ways they bring joy into your life. Maybe they teach you about love, care, and how to have fun.

Animals invite us to see the beauty and diversity of this planet we all depend on, They teach us what it means to be present, to listen to our bodies, to love or, if they are anything like my cats, to communicate how they want to be loved.

They are a blessing and so for all they do. For all they are we bless them.

But first we gawk. Now is the time for the animal parade.

ANIMAL BLESSING
by Rev. LoraKim Joyner

May Blessings Flow…..
From our hearts and minds into our hands,
May blessings flow.

Around and around this circle of friends
May blessings flow.

For all you do and all your teach us
May blessings flow.

Around and around our beloved earth
May blessings flow.

For all beings,
may blessings flow.

Extinguishing the Chalice

We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we hold in our hearts until we are together again.

Benediction

For all the animals in this room and online, with fur, or feather, or scale, or just us, the relatively less hairy humans, may we all find joy today, joy and companionship. And may we all be present today to that companionship, but also to the beauty and the mystery that is all around us. And most importantly, may we all be held by love.

Go in peace.

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