A Day for the Animals

It was as if they knew the congregation was singing about them, so the 22 dogs, a cockatiel and one gecko maintained a dignified silence.

“All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all,” they sang at St Andrew’s Church in Cambridge on Sunday.

“Of course He did,” Saga, Rev Jennie Savage’s brindle staghound, seemed to say as she was given pride of place at the front of the church.

The rescue dog, saved from the Royal SPCA in Melbourne, only barked as Jennie prepared Communion for the congregation. Saga clearly thought the preparation of the bread and wine was her lunch.

The annual Blessing of the Pets service presented another opportunity to celebrate God’s creatures, said Jennie.

Pets’ unrestrained love and devotion, a love that is irrational, illogical and unrestrained, was a way of celebrating the love of God, she said.

The service was themed around the animal kingdom – with hymns and readings all on theme.

“Bless them who curl themselves around our hearts, who twine themselves through our days, who companion us in our labour, who call us to come and play. Bless them who will never be entirely tamed and so remind us that you love what is wild, that you rejoice in what lives close to the earth, that your heart beats in the heart of these creatures you have entrusted to our care.”

Jennie was formally inducted into the Cambridge church in February last year via Zoom as she and husband Sav were still in Melbourne, victims of the Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) regulations then in place to protect New Zealand from Covid.

“I have conducted this annual service for many years in both this church and previous ones I have served at in Australia,” said Jennie.

“It is always a most joyous occasion for not only church members, but for those of the wider community who love this opportunity to come along and give thanks for their pets and have a blessing said over them.”

The pets were well behaved throughout the hour-long service; there were no accidents reported but there was a rush for the door when the song Let All Creation Dance finished.

But that was more the humans who were after a cup of tea in the hall.

“I’d have pets in church every week,” said Jennie.

From left Saga, Zorro, a foxy/staffy cross, owner Barry Boase, Michael Jeans and ‘Sav’ Savage at the Blessing of the Pets at St Andrew’s Anglican Church. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.

Susan Cochrane with Honey, 9, her chihuahua at Blessing of the Pets at St Andrew’s Anglican Church. Photo: Mary Anne Gill