Homer Glen church includes parishioners’ pets in recent services
By Denise Baran-Unland For The Herald News July 18, 2011 5:16PM
Pastor PJ Malin of Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Homer Glen, sings during the pet blessing services held earlier this month. At the services, Malin blessed the pets of parishioners and included them in the worship services. | submitted photo
FYI
For more information on Cross of Glory Lutheran Church, visit www.crossofglory.com.
Updated: October 31, 2011 3:03PM
They came by ones and twos, and like Noah’s ark, PJ Malin, the pastor at Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Homer Glen, happily ushered a kaleidoscope of pets onto the church grounds for worship and a blessing.
For these special interactive—and albeit shorter—services July 3 and 10, Malin pointed to the animals as signs of God’s love and grace.
“We talked about how pets love us unconditionally,” Malin said, “just like God does.”
The pet worship and blessing introduced the Cross of Glory community to this year’s vacation Bible study theme, “Connected to Creation.” The session runs through July 22, but it is full.
Of the 200 people who participated in the pet worship and blessing services, about half brought pets. Most of the visiting animals were dogs, and there were also many cats. Other animals included a turtle and a fish. No hamsters, guinea pigs or ferrets visited for the blessing, but Malin wishes someone had brought a bird.
“Part of the message was about when Jesus pointed to some birds and what we learn from them, but we didn’t have a bird,” Malin said.
Malin had no pet to bring, but that may change in the near future.
“Our son is 3 now,” Malin said, “so he’s getting into that phase.”
As part of the service, some of the pets demonstrated tricks their respective owners had taught them. Near the service’s conclusion, Malin and a team of assistants walked among the crowd, distributing communion to the people and blessings for the animals.
Although being spread out helped, Malin was proud of the animals’ exemplary behavior.
“There was a couple of tense growls and hair raisings on the back of necks, but everyone was basically pretty good,” Malin said.
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