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Weird
United Methodists
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“It seems a little strange, but (pet ministry) is mission, it’s evangelism, it’s education, it’s hunger relief, it’s pastoral care. All those things are part of the church.” - RNS

Discussion

Fri, 08/27/21

This is something that would occur in Seattle. There was a church that had a Sunday service for “Blessing of the animals.” Naturally I assumed it was a euphemism for infant baptism.

Fri, 08/27/21

….that perhaps some dogs do indeed have superior preaching skills to some pastors…. j/k

Seriously, while I appreciate Proverbs 12:10 and the gifts of God’s creatures, and of course the gallant ministry of Balaam’s ass, I dare suggest calling a beagle a “pastor” probably stretches the reality. It does not surprise me to see it in my boyhood denomination, the United Methodists.

To be fair to the UMC, however, at least they chose a dog to be their assistant pastor. Another article linked from the one linked here suggests that atheists prefer cats.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Mon, 08/30/21

We’ve been very actively discipling the pup we acquired a year ago. She still has bad habits, but we’ve really seen a lot of growth… and she has a real passion for small groups and in-person interaction, which we take to be an affirmation of faith. Encouraging signs!

Our cat remains committed to agnosticism though. So Bert may have a point about that.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.