Blessing of the Animals 2017

Sunday, October 15, 10 AM, Town Common
Rain location: Chidley Hall
(lower level of First Congregational Church, 21 Church Street)

Each fall, the church hosts the Blessing of the Animals to honor the special animals in our lives. Wherever your pets are on life’s journey, they are welcome to this festive worship service, where we celebrate and give thanks for all God’s creatures, great and small. This year, the service will again be held across the street on the Town Common, and include brief readings, prayer, and individual blessings for animals on leashes, in cages, in arms, or in a picture.

Families and their pets are grouped in sections by animal to avoid conflicts between our furry friends. If you do not wish to bring your pet, you can bring a picture or a stuffed animal to represent them.

Just as we did last year, an offering will be taken during the service for NEADS, a non-profit organization that involves prisoners in the training of service dogs to bring freedom, physical autonomy and relief from social isolation to human companions who are deaf or disabled. If you can’t make it to the service, you can mail checks to the church, or drop off an envelope of cash in the office (remember you can use the secure locked box in the Dix street hallway). Please be sure to write your name and NEADS on the envelope or the check memo line, to ensure it gets credited to the correct account. Last year we collected $209 for them.

Check them out at www.neads.org

See the Winchester Star’s coverage of our 2016 Blessing of the Animals, as well as the Star’s photo gallery of the event.