βαρκυνάριος - All Dogs Go To Heaven II

Service at the Loss of a Beloved Animal

At last summer's General Convention 2012 of the Episcopal Church, convention considered and made available a liturgy for blessing animals, especially prayers for when a pet dies.

Are all animals included or only animals people love? And folks have all kinds of pets. In the convention record, minutes, there is discussion of dogs, some bishops asked about cats. One of my daughters had a pet snake when we lived in Harrisburg, fed it mice: what are the implications, both for the snake and for the mice? There is a Bible verse, "Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand, the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests" (Zephaniah 1:7 NRSV), in which scholars say it is not clear whether the guests have been blessed as celebrants or as the meal, the sacrifice, as in, "Bless, O Lord, this food to our use and us to thy service ..." In C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia there is an episode in The Silver Chair where Eustace, Jill and Puddleglum the Marshwiggle are visiting the land of the giants at the time of the Fall Feast, and find out that they are being pampered not because they are beloved guests but because they are on the menu. Our new liturgy for animals reminds me of my daughter's first day at her college in Virginia the fall of 1990, walking up the stairs behind another girl who was carrying her beloved pet tarantula in a birdcage. That was 22 years ago and the animal undoubtedly has passed. If all dogs go to heaven, does George Orwell come to mind: all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others?

That our House of Bishops and House of Deputies would do this seriously in today's world led some to observe that everything else important to which the Episcopal Church might conceivably devote time and attention, and commit resources, obviously had been taken care of. Others responded that there has long been a call for such services, and that convention's attention was pastoral.

Nevertheless, in that lex orandi lex credendi, every liturgy has theological, doctrinal implications.

When we started Sunday School for the our fall 2012 season, I promised members of the class that we would have a look at what convention gave us, after our initial Bible study of Mark's gospel and as we moved toward Advent. The time has come, and our topic this Sunday, November 11, will be that liturgy for animals, both the service itself and the doctrine that the liturgy implies, the theological inferences we may draw from it.

All are welcome, Mary Stuart Poole Library, 9:15 to 10:15 Sunday morning.

TW+

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Son of All Dogs Go To Heaven, eh?