Why Dogs Matter to Us
(Posted March 28, 2019)
Have you noticed recently how many more commercials there are that feature dogs? It seems these days whatever the message is for the consumer – whether it’s to buy food, to purchase a car -- or even in one case, to buy a house —- there’s a dog in the commercial who they’d like to please. So I started to think long and hard about why these little creatures matter so much to us. And I finally arrived at the opinion that dogs matter to us because no matter what we do (or don’t do), they still think the sun rises and sets in us. If there’s a “Dog Motto,” it’s probably “I Love You Anyway.”
Church Services on Sunday
All are welcome to worship with us. Service begins at 10 a.m.
On top of that, dogs teach us so many things we ought to practice, but so often fail to accomplish. In an era of downright rudeness, dogs in general seem to respect most humans (as long as they’ve figured out that they mean no harm to their human family.) Dogs don’t make snap judgments about people until they’ve had a “good sniff” of a newcomer. If you welcome someone into your home as a friend, that person pretty much is adopted as the dog’s friend, too. But more importantly than this, dogs forgive us for being us. You promised me a walk and you forgot? I love you anyway. You yelled at me for something I didn’t do? I love you anyway. You didn’t take me out and came home late to a wet carpet, and scolded me? I love you anyway. Dogs are always ready to reconcile with us, even when we’ve made them sad and the mistake really was ours, not theirs. Why? Because they are pure love, without any ulterior motives. We owe them something. As the famous tee-shirt logo says, Be the kind of person 
your dog thinks you are. Worthy of love, anyway.
Now, as strange as this sounds, our message this Sunday when we read the parable about The Prodigal Son is exactly like our dogs’ motto: I Love You Anyway. Because, literally the whole story is not only forgiving the people in our lives who have disrespected us and caused us pain, but about having a love that transcends the things we broken humans do. It’s a tall order, this moving-beyond-the-moment. It also means being able to accept that when any member of our family is loved and celebrated, it takes nothing away from what we mean in the eyes of our parent. That Parent is God. So join us this Sunday for a reflective time about these beautiful images and how they apply to your life. And if you turn up a few minutes late… hey… we love you anyway. - Pastor Pat Kriss