[Magdalen] Saint Francis' Day

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

St. James, Hyde Park, decided to have a blessing of the animals this year.
It was really quite nice.  Several dogs added their voices during hymns.
"All things Bright and Beautiful..."
"Fairest Lord Jesus"
"For the Beauty of the Earth"
There were only dogs. I brought photos of our four cats and Fr. Chuck gave
them a very nice blessing.
I've heard others mention this before, but the addition of animals to a
worship service somehow seemed to make everyone a little more laid back.
I hope that Francis was looking down and enjoying it in the midst of all
the other folks who were at that time doing the same thing.

They planned to do the blessing outside, but the weather was a bit iffy, so
it was moved into the parish hall. Folks ran around giving out BCPs and
hymnals.  I looked at my hymnal and said, "Hello, old friend! It's been a
while!" It was a 1940!

I checked out the service program, found the actual hymn number in the
1940, and it worked out fine. Except that there is a completely new tune
for one of the hymns (416 -- a gorgeous tune I had not heard before), but
-- details, details.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy