MOORHEAD – On Thursday, Sept. 28, Concordia’s Campus Ministry held a yearly event: “The Blessing of the Animals,” where students and faculty brought their pets to be blessed by a campus pastor.
“Every year on October 4, mainline Protestant churches celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, who, as a saint, is recognized as a beloved saint of creation and animals,” Campus Pastor Dave Adams said. “The Blessing of the Animals is something that many churches do every year around the Feast of Saint Francis because they want to be able to pay their respect to that legacy and to show how we all are part of creation and how we can all work together to be good stewards and caretakers of everything that that we have been privileged to be a part of.”
The service, while being an inherently religious event, is open to all students as are many of Campus Ministry’s events.
“We don’t just do one specific kind of worship. We really are ministers to the campus as a whole,” Adams said. “So, something like (the Blessing of the Animals), while it does come from a Christian perspective, it is very open to the campus as a whole. Anyone who really cares for creation, sustainability, the environment, and for animals, you know, could find meaning in something like this,”
The Blessing of the Animals is a new tradition, with the first one occurring only six years ago.
“It was two students, Breck Cogswell and Tyler Egge, that first had the idea to do a Blessing of the Animals here at Concordia. There may have been other services where there were blessings of the animals previous to that, but I think the first one that we had was in the fall of 2017.” Minister for Vocation, Community and Service Deacon John Leiseth said.
Saige Mattson / The Concordian
The response to the event has been extremely positive.
“I felt very safe and accepted and I talked to a lot of people, it was nice to have some community there,” First-year student, Charlotte Kotlarchuk said. “My favorite part was when everyone else around me was praying and all the dogs looked so happy.”
The event was outside in front of the belltower. The service included the reading of scripture, group prayers, the singing of songs and the blessings themselves.
“I love the actual getting to bless the animals. We have little dishes just with water in them and we just go, and we just sprinkle water on them. It’s so cute to watch how they respond to it because they’re very curious. It’s really quite sweet,” Adams said.
When discussing faith and spirituality, animals are rarely the first thing to come to mind. However, many connections can be made between the two.
“There’s a gorgeous biblical passage about God as a mother hen that says God’s beloved children are tucked under, just as chicks would be, the wings of the mother hen. So, you know, images of creation, including animals throughout the Bible are used to communicate and embody the love that God has for us, not just humans, but you know, all of God’s creation.” Leiseth said.
Saige Mattson / The Concordian
Events like the Blessing of the Animals can serve many purposes for students and faculty, including highlighting togetherness on campus.
“We’re practicing being community. We’re being community together,” said Leiseth, “That’s a big reason why people choose Concordia and why those of us who work at Concordia choose to keep coming back. It’s because of the unique nature that that is Concordia as a community.”
Students attended the service for a variety of reasons.
“I went to the Blessing of the Animals because I really like animals and dogs and I really miss my dog at home,” Kotlarchuk said. “It was also nice to have a Lutheran event to go to.”
By holding this and other events on campus, Campus Ministry hopes to spread their message of acceptance.
“All truly are welcome at everything we do, regardless of your faith, or non-faith, practice and tradition. We are an openly affirming ministry. And we love ideas from students if they have ideas for things that they would love to see us do,” Adams said.
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