A Time of Rebirth in an Unexpected Way

by The Reverend Rebecca Jones

In Grand Junction, Nativity Episcopal Church’s congregation has taken on a decidedly diverse feel these days. In addition to the usual assortment of Episcopalians, the parish, according to its website, has been actively reaching out to “agnostic gerbils, Baptist cats, Presbyterian dogs, non-denominational rabbits.…”

And they’ve been coming. In droves.

Nativity’s ministry, “Paws for a Blessing,” was originally envisioned as a once-a-month Sunday afternoon service that would welcome people from the community, and their animals, for a prayer session and pet blessing. That group of pets and pet lovers had soon formed a special congregation and began to attract a number of worshippers to Nativity who were otherwise not attending church.

Nativity then added a twice-yearly memorial service for beloved pets who had died. Next came a ministry to bless animals in shelters and to participate in “Fill the Bowl,” a U.S. Humane Society project to gather pet food and supplies for people who are low-income or homeless.

The response has been overwhelming, church leaders say. “Many people are connected to God through animals,” says the Reverend Teri Shecter, Nativity’s deacon and one of the driving forces behind the animal ministry. “They may not even be able to articulate that. But where they don’t feel connected to creation in a church setting, they certainly are able to do that with the assistance of animals. Many people have a deep love for animals and feel there’s a place for honoring and recognizing that.”

This past October, Nativity celebrated the Feast of St. Francis with an all-day Animal Care Fair that drew dozens of exhibitors, including animal rescue and advocacy groups, commercial businesses, and service providers. One parishioner, Brian Wiseman, DVM, provided steeply discounted pet vaccinations. There were seminars on dog training, animal first aid, cat behavior, and animal hospice care. There were demonstrations featuring llamas and how llama fleece is spun into wool. Artistic parishioners sold animal-themed paintings, note cards, and jewelry.

“It was an amazing day,” said The Reverend Nature Johnston, Nativity’s rector. “We were inundated. We ran out of room for all the people and groups that wanted to take part. We’re starting the planning for next year’s Care Fair this January.”

Meanwhile, the church’s attendance and financial health has taken a decided turn for the better. Just three years ago, Nativity was a parish on the edge of extinction. And while it’s not yet out of the woods, Johnston is confident: “We’re getting close to meeting our sustainability goals,” she says. “It’s incredible, because not that long ago, we were in a very dark time.”

In 2012, parish leaders projected that the church would probably have exhausted its resources by the summer of 2015 and would need to close by that time. They began planning for a death. Instead, they found rebirth.

“It may be that facing closure freed us up a bit,” Johnson said. “ The word that prevailed at that time was ‘passion.’ We had three passions at that time that coalesced. One was care for creation. That was very strong. Another was the mystical expression of Christianity. And the third was a real educational impulse.”

The desire to care for creation evolved into the Paws for a Blessing monthly service and the associated animal-related ministries. The interest in mystical Christianity developed into the establishment of a centering prayer group.

The interest in education led the parish to launch “Spiritual University,” which features in-depth teaching, usually involving DVDs of such profound spiritual thinkers as Richard Rohr, Marcus Borg, and Walter Brueggemann.

Giving the parish permission to live into its passions has been life-changing, she says.

“I can tell you that we’ve had two growth bumps since we started this whole passion-oriented ministry,” she said. “Our first growth bump was in 2013, when all of a sudden, we had an influx of new people. This year, we’ve had another growth bump, much larger. I don’t know what to make of it. I’m sort of shocked.”

“I don’t think you can say there’s been a one-to-one cause-and-effect relationship,” Johnston said. “But I think it has to do with energy and passion. I think people are aware of that. When people visit for the first time, maybe that’s part of what draws them back for a return visit.”

Parishioner Jan Head says the animal ministry has become a great source of pride at Nativity. “It’s created a unique connection with the community,” she says. “Most Sunday evenings, we have more nonmembers attending our Paws service than we have parishioners. People like the fact that we’re doing this, paying attention to something outside our own walls, extending God’s love into the community.”

Lynne Habberfield, now a part-time accountant at Nativity, was one of those first drawn to the church because of its animal ministry. Mourning the death of a dog at the animal shelter where she volunteers, Lynne attended a Paws for a Blessing service to say a prayer for the dog. She came back the next month. And the next. Now she’s a regular. “We need to do more to promote the human/animal bond,” Lynne says. “The animals don’t need to be blessed as much as we need to bless them, to remind us of the part they play in our lives.”

Shecter agrees. “One of the most important parts about us doing this, showing up in collars as leaders of the church, is to say that these things are extremely important to us. It’s not just a pat on the animal’s head, but it’s creating an awareness that the fate of the animals is our fate too. We need to acknowledge what a deep issue this is, both spiritually and environmentally.”

Nativity hopes to continue to expand its animal-centered and creation-centered ministries. This fall, it awarded its first ever Environmental Excellence Award — $500 — to the Sustainability Council at Mesa State University. “We went out in the community and looked for organizations we felt were benefitting the earth and the environment,” Johnston said.

The church, which sits on two acres that back up to wilderness and a pond, put in a walking path and installed a bat house and two owl houses. It’s seeking to become a greener congregation, focusing on reducing waste and possibly going to organic weed control. An outdoor labyrinth is also in the planning stage.

“We have a lot on the drawing board,” Johnson said. “We may perhaps inaugurate a different sort of worship service too, such as a Celtic service. Celtic spirituality is very much in tune with the earth, the seasons. Maybe we’ll start offering that liturgy once a month on a Saturday night as a really explicit way of emphasizing the earth and the environment.”