I saw on the interweb that an Anglican female priest in Canada held a communion service where dogs were invited to commune, supposedly with their owners although I'm certain that strays would have been welcome.
I'm not kidding. Dogs were invited to commune, not simply attend, but partake. A worshiper commented, "It was kind of nice and it made me smile."
Pardon me while I clean the vomit of my keyboard.
Where is the respect for the Sacrament of the Altar? I've communed next to a dog before, a working dog, a lovely black lab named Sarah who worked for a college classmate. Both Cecilia and Sarah would come forward for communion in chapel and Sarah would sit next to her owner while Cecilia knelt and received the body and blood of Jesus broken and shed for the forgiveness of Cecilia's sins.
Sarah was a cute dog, a nice dog, a very friendly dog. She loved attention but she knew her task and it was clear when she was working and when she was not. Cecilia let it be known when her dog was working but more often it was Sarah who would let you know.
This whole notion of doing things, especially in the church, that are cute is also something that is troublesome. Doing something because it is cute is not a good reason to do something.
Communion is a joy. It is a gift. It is humbling and inspiring. It is awe-inducing, awe-full, and even awful. It is soaring. It is receptive and it is sharing. Cute? Not so much. For dogs? Only if we are calling ourselves dogs who desire the crumbs that fall from our master's table.
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