{"id":18302,"date":"2016-01-31T16:59:29","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T22:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?p=18302"},"modified":"2016-02-07T17:03:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T23:03:11","slug":"animal-blessing-service-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/animal-blessing-service-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Blessing Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_954\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-18302-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2016-01-31_Animal_Blessing.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2016-01-31_Animal_Blessing.mp3\">http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2016-01-31_Animal_Blessing.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2016-01-31_Animal_Blessing.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?powerpress_pinw=18302-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2016-01-31_Animal_Blessing.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2016-01-31_Animal_Blessing.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p align=\"left\">Rev. Marisol Caballero<br \/>\nJanuary 31, 2016<br \/>\nFirst UU Church of Austin<br \/>\n4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756<br \/>\nwww.austinuu.org<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>All creatures young, old, great and small, furry and scaly are invited to our annual intergenerational service honoring our beloved animal companions.<\/i><\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Call to Worship<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&#8220;An Alphabet of Gratitude&#8221;<br \/>\n<i>Rev. Gary Kowalski<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">We give thanks for the earth and its creatures, and are grateful from A to Z:<br \/>\nFor alligators, apricots, acorns, and apple trees,<br \/>\nFor bumblebees, bananas, blueberries, and beagles,<br \/>\nCoconuts, crawdads, cornfields, and coffee,<br \/>\nDaisies, elephants, and flying fish,<br \/>\nFor groundhogs, glaciers, and grasslands,<br \/>\nHippos and hazelnuts, icicles and iguanas,<br \/>\nFor juniper, jackrabbits, and junebugs,<br \/>\nKudzu and kangaroos, lightning bugs and licorice,<br \/>\nFor mountains and milkweed and mistletoe,<br \/>\nNorwhals and nasturtiums, otters and ocelots,<br \/>\nFor peonies, persimmons, and polar bears,<br \/>\nQuahogs and Queen Anne&#8217;s Lace,<br \/>\nFor raspberries and roses,<br \/>\nSalmon and sassafras, tornadoes and tulipwood,<br \/>\nUrchins and valleys and waterfalls,<br \/>\nFor X (the unknown, the mystery of it all!)<br \/>\nIn every yak and yam;<br \/>\nWe are grateful, good Earth, not least of all<br \/>\nFor zinnias, zucchini, and zebras,<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">And for the alphabet of wonderful things that are as simple as ABC<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Story for All Ages<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&#8220;Thankful Dogs&#8221;<br \/>\n<i>By Naomi King<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Once there was and once there was not a family of dogs. Like many dog families, there were dogs that had wandered off the street and dogs with fine pedigrees and dogs from the shelter and dogs who had been born into the family. They ran together. They played together. They tumbled together in great furry masses of tails and snouts and paws. They loved each other very much-even if sometimes they growled at one another, even if sometimes they worried about enough biscuits from the tin on the counter, even if some dog didn&#8217;t feel good and snapped at another dog-they loved each other very much.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Each night as the moon rose, the family of dogs went outside and sat in a great circle on the soft grass and watched the moon rise and looked into each other&#8217;s eyes and wagged their tails. It was a doggy thing to do. Then, when the moon was a dog&#8217;s tail above the horizon, the eldest dog would bay loudly at the moon. And what do you think that dog was baying about?<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">The eldest dog was telling the other dogs and the moon and the whole world what he was thankful for. He was baying, &#8220;Thank you for this day! For the running and the jumping! Thank you for the biscuits and the tasty treats! Thank you little brown dog for nosing the ball my way! Thanks for being able to sing! Thanks for this and everything!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Then the youngest dog would point her nose to the moon and begin to bay. And she was saying, &#8220;Thank you wonderful sun that warmed my back! Thank you fragrant frangipani so sweet! Thank you pack of dogs for wiggly dances! Thanks for the ringing ice cream truck! Thanks for this and all my luck!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Then one dog after another would join the baying, saying their thanks, until they were singing together and to the moon. But they saved the best for last and howled together: &#8220;Thank you mother and thank you father! Thank you sister and thank you brother! Thank you neighbor and thank you friend! Thank you stranger and thank you world! We share our thanks for every being whether near or far, no matter who, no matter where, no matter what you are. THANKS!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">They did this no matter what the weather, no matter how many or how few of the family was home, no matter how they felt. The dog family gathered together each and every night to greet the moon and share their thanks! Let&#8217;s share their circle of gratitude:<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Thank you mother and thank you father!<br \/>\nThank you sister and thank you brother!<br \/>\nThank you neighbor, thank you friend!<br \/>\nThank you stranger, thank you world!<br \/>\nWe share our thanks for every being whether near or far<br \/>\nno matter who, no matter where, no matter what you are!<br \/>\nTHANKS!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Prayer &amp; Candle Lighting\u00a0<\/b><br \/>\n<i>By Thomas Rhodes<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">You Birds of the Air,<br \/>\nHawk, Sparrow, and laughing Jay<br \/>\nYou embody freedom itself,<br \/>\ndelight us with your song, astound us with feats of migration<br \/>\nGrant us your perspective,<br \/>\nfor too often our horizon is limited<br \/>\nand we are blind to the full results of our actions.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">You Worms of the Earth,<br \/>\nAnts, Beetles, Spiders and Centipedes<br \/>\nYou are the essential but oft-forgotten strand in nature&#8217;s web.<br \/>\nThrough you the cycle is complete; through you new life arises from old.<br \/>\nRemind us of our humility.<br \/>\nFor the wheel of live does not turn around us;<br \/>\nwe are not the axle, but merely spokes<br \/>\nno less than unseen, unknown and shunned companions<br \/>\nsuch as yourselves.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">You creatures of the field and wood and field, marsh and desert<br \/>\nBear and Bison, Skunk and Squirrel, Weasel and Wolf<br \/>\nToo often we have sacrificed your homes in the name of progress,<br \/>\nclear cutting the forests to fill our desire,<br \/>\nor covering the earth with tarmac, cement, and suburban lawns.<br \/>\nPray that we may remember that the earth was not given for our needs alone,<br \/>\nand what we do to you, we eventually do to ourselves.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">You animals of the farm<br \/>\nHorse and cow, pig and fowl<br \/>\nWillingly or not, you give your very lives for us,<br \/>\nyour milk for our nourishment, your flesh for our sustenance,<br \/>\nYet too often we forget that the meat on our tables was once as alive as we are.<br \/>\nForgive our willful ignorance,<br \/>\nand remind us constantly to give thanks for your sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">You Dearest Companions in our lives Dogs and Cats,<br \/>\nHamsters and Goldfish<br \/>\nYou who are with us today<br \/>\nand you who always be present in our memories<br \/>\nYou have enriched our lives in so many ways<br \/>\nendured our shortcomings with calm acceptance<br \/>\ntaught us something of our humanity<br \/>\ntaught us how to love.<br \/>\nMay we hold you in our hearts throughout the days of our lives.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Blessing<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">A Blessing isn&#8217;t a magical spell, but a way of showing love and saying thank you; taking time to say out loud what is important to us.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>[pet&#8217;s name],<\/i>\u00a0Thank you for blessing me with the gift of your friendship.<br \/>\nYou always know how to make me laugh and cheer me up when I&#8217;m sad.<br \/>\nI&#8217;m glad that you give me your love.<br \/>\nI promise that I will take care of you, in return.<br \/>\nI will feed you, bathe you, play with you,<br \/>\nTake you to the doctor when your sick,<br \/>\nProtect you, and give you the best life I can.<br \/>\nWhen the time comes to say goodbye,<br \/>\nI will make sure that you feel safe and loved.<br \/>\nI bless you because you bless me every day.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Benediction\u00a0<\/b><br \/>\n<i>-Buddhist<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">May every creature abound in well-being and peace.<br \/>\nMay every living being,<br \/>\nWeak or strong, the long and the small,<br \/>\nThe short and the medium-sized,<br \/>\nThe mean and the great<br \/>\nMay every living creature,<br \/>\nSeen and unseen,<br \/>\nThose dwelling far off,<br \/>\nThose waiting to be born,<br \/>\nMay all attain peace.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\">Text of this sermon is not yet available. Click the play button to listen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><i>Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/podcast\/first-unitarian-universalist\/id372427776\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Most sermons delivered at the First UU Church of Austin during the past 16 years are available online through this website. You will find links to them in the right sidebar menu labeled Sermons. The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/category\/sermons\/indexes\/\" target=\"_blank\">Indexes<\/a>\u00a0link leads to tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on the topic to go to a sermon.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rev. Marisol Caballero January 31, 2016 First UU Church of Austin 4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756 www.austinuu.org All creatures young, old, great and small, furry and scaly are invited to our annual intergenerational service honoring our beloved animal companions. Call to Worship &#8220;An Alphabet of Gratitude&#8221; Rev. Gary Kowalski We give thanks for the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19,63,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-available","category-marisol-caballero","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18303,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18302\/revisions\/18303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}