Filling the Dog-Shaped Hole

A Los Angeles church has gone to the dogs. Literally.

The Rev. Tom Eggebeen knew he needed to do something drastic to revive his dwindling congregation at Covenant Presbyterian Church, so he came up with a doggone good idea: a service specifically catered to dogs, and the people who love them.

"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," Eggebeen, himself a dog lover, told The Associated Press. "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 30-minute service debuted last Sunday, as a few dozen pooches gathered in an area featuring individual dog beds and canine treats. A hymn appropriately titled "GoD and DoG," strained through a piano as Eggebeen stepped up to the podium and the pooches settled down, chin on paw.

Eggebeen then took prayer requests, including one for Mr. Boobie (I am not kidding) for healing of the knees, as well as Hunter, who recently suffered a stroke. He then called out the names of beloved pets past and present (Quiche, Tiger, Timmy, Baby Angel and Spunky) before transitioning into The Lord's Prayer. During the offering, possibly bewildered ushers stepped over a tangle of leashes to collect money and hand out bone-shaped doggie treats.

At least at first, it appears Eggebeen's canine scheme achieved the desired result, it pulled in about 30 adults along with their pooches, and about three-quarters of them were new faces.

"I don't have any kids, so my pets have always been my children, so it does mean a lot," new congregant Emma Sczesniak said of the service, which she attended with her three pups. "I haven't been to church in a long time and this may push me into it. I'm getting older and I've been thinking about those things again."

So bark at the idea of a church for canines if you must, but for the people who attended this new service, Dog is God — and vice versa.

Photo courtesy of jseattle via Flickr.