When the Rev. Tom Eggebeen took over as
interim pastor at Covenant Presbyterian
Church three years ago, he looked around
and knew it needed a jump start. So
Eggebeen came up with a hair-raising
idea: He would
turn God's house into a doghouse by
offering a 30-minute service complete
with individual doggie beds, canine
prayers and an offering of dog treats.
He hopes it will reinvigorate the
church's connection with the community,
provide solace to elderly members and,
possibly, attract new worshippers who
are as crazy about God as they are about
their four-legged friends.
"The Bible says of God only two things
in terms of an 'is':
That God is light and God is love. And
wherever there's love, there's God in
some fashion,"
said Eggebeen, himself a dog
lover. "And when we love a dog and a dog
loves us, that's a part of God and God
is a part of that. So we honor that."
The weekly dog service at Covenant
Presbyterian is part of
a growing trend
among churches nationwide to address the
spirituality of pets
and the deeply felt bonds that
owners form with their animals.
Traditionally, conventional Christians
believe that only humans have redeemable
souls, said Laura Hobgood-Oster, a
religion professor at Southwestern
University in Georgetown, Texas.
But a growing
number of congregations from
Massachusetts to Texas to California are
challenging that assertion with regular
pet blessings and, increasingly,
pet-centric services, said
Hobgood-Oster, who studies the role of
animals in Christian tradition.
"It's the changing family structure,
where pets are really central and
religious communities are starting to
recognize that people need various kinds
of rituals that include their pets,"
she said. "More and
more people in mainline Christianity are
considering them to have some kind of
soul."
