On Sunday, November 8, Trinity Church in Allendale (Northern Bergen County) celebrated the culmination of a two-year journey searching for what God was doing in our neighborhoods. In 2013, the parish’s Outreach Ministry began a journey of joining God in the health and care of those who were currently serving and had served in this country’s armed services.
As with many journeys of quest, the parish began including in its Prayers of the People a petition for God’s blessing on those “men, women and canines serving in our country’s armed services.” This stirred up lively conversation within the parish about why we included both two-legged and four-legged creatures in the prayers. It soon became evident that people were making a connection between the annual Blessing of the Animals service on the first Sunday of October and the inclusion of service canines in the military.
As the parish continued its prayerful journey we began to hear about veterans in our area living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The more we heard and saw, the more we felt called to respond in a meaningful manner to God’s work of healing, reconciliation, and reconnection with this growing population in Northern Bergen County.
Because of the ongoing connection of including service canines in the weekly Prayers of the People and the ever-popular Blessing of the Animals service, we became aware of several groups who were using canines and other special four-legged creatures, such as horses, in the healing process of our veterans, especially those suffering from PTSD.
One of the groups we connected with was Tails of Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization that trains service dogs to be companions, helpers and guardians of veterans having difficulties reconnecting to society, many of whom had expressed suicidal thoughts.
Thus the service on November 8 not only celebrated the fruition of a two-year journey of prayerful search and the parish’s connection with the ministry Tails of Hope Foundation, but also enlarged upon our annual ministry of the Blessing of the Animals by blessing Patrick, a rather handsome Rottweiler, the service dog of Staff Sergeant David Kist (retired). Prayers for SSgt. David’s continued healing were offered along with thanksgiving for his life-saving companion.
After the service SSgt. David shared with the parish how much Patrick meant to his life, including his being able to get up each day and embrace the blessings to be experienced with his service dog at his side – needless to say there were not many dry eyes! The event also connected SSgt. David with other veterans and encouraged other parishioners to become involved in the ministry by volunteering to be a part of a special summer camp for service dogs and their owners.
In conclusion, this is a tail of a faith community journeying in prayer and discernment as it listened to a special group of our neighbors and found God working in life-changing ways. The parish’s response has been and will continue to be multi-faceted, but most of all this has been a community experience of God’s transforming grace working through both two-legged and four-legged creatures.
As one parishioner observed during the celebration, “What a convoluted path to get where we are today!” Yes, God does speak and act at times in wondrously conflated and convoluted holiness!
