ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

It's not just the human residents of the Jiggi Valley, but their four-legged friends as well, who have rallied to give their local church a new lease on life.

- CAROLINE GLADSTONE

Every place in every pew is taken at Jiggi Uniting Church, a cute buttercup yellow timber building in a lush valley in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, halfway between Lismore and Nimbin, as the crow flies.

Not all the occupants are human though. Of the 50 souls gathered on a glorious spring Sunday in September, there are 10 dogs and three cats, some in carry-cases and others on laps. Outside, a champion distance-endurance horse, Bacchante Dreamworks, is munching grass. The 24-year-old with the grand name is not allowed inside, but he's there in spirit, as are the dozens of cows in the fields that surround the church.

Uniting Church minister Denise Savage is officiating at this special occasion – Jiggi's Blessing of the Animals. She mentions each beloved pet by name, adding a bit of their story. A country woman born and bred, Reverend Savage lived in Tasmania for many years, before moving to Lismore with her family this year.

Animals who couldn't make the service, including two pythons (Pretzel and Zen) and others living as far away as Sydney, are blessed virtually as their cute little faces – and fangs – are displayed on a screen above the altar. The minister talks about the role of animals – "the furry, the feathered and the scaled community" – as cherished family members and creatures playing a vital part in the sustainability of life.

Nimbin musician Johny Himalaya begins the service with a Bob Dylan song, Man Gave Names to All the Animals, as a canine in the back spontaneously beats time with his tail against a cedar pew and Harry, a teacup poodle-Maltese Shih Tzu cross, who's come down from the Gold Coast, jiggles on his 'mum's' lap.

If you're thinking The Vicar of Dibley, you're on the right path.