There is really no need for any additional comments from me.  Nothing I can add to make this story any better or any worse.  It's just another painful, telling "sign of the times"— as they say.

Read the article yourself and you'll quickly realize, like I have, that we must be the church that our Lord was talking about when He said:

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.  Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." *

Pooch Praise: Church Offers Worship Services for Dogs

It's official: Church has gone to the dogs.

Starting this month, Covenant Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles is turning God's house into a doghouse by inviting dog lovers to bring their pooches for a 30-minute canine-centric worship service. Intended as a weekly community outreach event, the services come complete with doggie beds, doggie treats and— we're not making this up— doggie prayers.

Pastor Tom Eggebeen thought of the idea three years ago to spark growth among his dwindling congregation and, as an avid dog-lover, believes the "Canines at Covenant" services meet a need for a largely ignored segment of believers.

"The Bible says of God only two things in terms of an 'is': that God is light and God is love," Eggebeen says. "And wherever there's love, there's God in some fashion. 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."

According to a recent Associated Press story, Eggebeen isn't alone but 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." Though calling this a definitive trend is debatable— one nationwide survey found a grand six churches involved in similar woof-oriented worship services— it does reveal a broadening attitude about pets and spirituality.

"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," says Laura Hobgood-Oster, a religion professor at Southwestern University who has studied the role of pets among Christians. "More and more people in mainline Christianity are considering them to have some kind of soul."

Whatever, er, dogma churches adopt, one thing is certain for Eggebeen: his plan is working. Of the more than 30 humans who attended the church's first service, three-fourths were newcomers.

From the AP (11/04/09)

* Revelation 3:15-17 

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