October 3, 2021
In honor of St. Francis, we think about the animals with which we feel a special connection.
St. Francis
“Listening to the Animals: In Honor of St. Francis”
October 4, 2020
- Emily Welch
- Rev. Lara Hoke
- animals
- coronavirus
- covid-19
- deep listening
- online worship
- St. Francis
- Time for All Ages
Starting the October Soul Matters theme of “deep listening”, we considered what we can learn from listening to the animals, on the Feast Day (in the Christian tradition) of St. Francis of Assisi. If you watch on YouTube, click on “show more” and you will see the Order of Service as well as blue time stamps that enable you to move to various worship elements.
“Ask the Beasts: St. Francis”
October 6, 2019
I preached the following short sermon at the “whole church” (multi-generational) Sunday service in honor of St. Francis. The statistics cited come from these sources: According to a recent Public Policy Polling: Six out of ten Americans own a pet. (That number might be low; another poll suggests that it’s closer to seven out ten Americans who own a pet.) From http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp One in five Americans report a preference for spending time with their pets rather than most human beings. From http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/06/animals-and-pets-poll-american-prefer-dogs-fear-snakes.html The American Pet Products Association gathers statistics on how much Americans spend on their pets – including pet expenses such as food, their medicines and veterinary care, their grooming and boarding, and the initial cost of purchasing a pet. According to these statistics, it is estimated that in 1994, twenty-five years ago, Americans spent 17 billion dollars on our pets. Ten years after that, 15 years ago in 2004, we doubled it, spending more than $34 billion on our pets. The latest number, as of 2017? Doubled again! We spent almost $70 billion on our pets. From http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp and https://www.vmdtoday.com/news/american-pet-spending-reaches-new-high Today there are about 900 million dogs on the planet. From https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-many-dogs-are-there-in-the-world.html