Whitehorse church blesses all creatures great and small
"This place is going to the dogs," joked one worshipper as he entered the Whitehorse United Church.
This past Sunday's service was full of hounds — and one cat — waiting to be blessed by Rev. Beverly Brazier.
It was the church's annual Blessing of the Animals service, where churchgoers bring their furry companions to be blessed and thanked for their companionship.
At the back of the church, greeters and a 13-year-old rescue named Minnie welcomed congregants with bulletins and plastic bags of dog treats.
There were a few barks and meows throughout the service, but most of the creatures were well-behaved.
Toward the end of the service, Brazier invited the congregants with animals to bring them forward, one at a time, to be blessed.
Brazier placed her hands on an animal, called it by its name, then blessed and thanked it for being part of its family.
During the service, Brazier promised those in attendance the blessing of the animals was not a ploy to get people to attend church in the summer.
Brazier said the tradition started long before she began working at the church nine years ago.
"I think that, especially in today's world, that we need to get a good grasp that we share this planet and that the stakes are very high if we don't understand that and if we keep ranking creatures in order of hierarchy with us at the top always," she said.
"We've paid a dear, dear price for having done that."
Stuart Clark has brought his four-year-old black lab, Sula, to be blessed every year.
"I think it's something that [is] a growing consciousness among Christians, that God is not just the God of people but God of all creation," he said.
"I think particularly as we're dealing now with a lot of problems between our activities and the rest of nature, being reminded that we're all together in this is an important ceremony."
Fourteen-year-old Maltese, Kimber, sat quietly with Merton Friesen throughout the service.
"I think it's more of a meaning of how much we appreciate them and how important they are in our lives," said Friesen.
Faye Cable brought her Yukon mutt, Winston. Her granddaughter, Linsey Eby, has brought her mother's Yorkie, Bodhi, to the service each year since her mother, Cable's daughter, died.
"I really like it because it's in God's house. Whether the dogs understand that or not, we do," said Cable.
"We know that God is looking down and protecting all of them. And when they go, they're going to go to heaven."
