Portales pastor helps with annual pet blessing

Kevin Wilson: CNJ staff photo

Pastor Bonita Knox of Trinity Lutheran Church delivers a blessing to Solis, a mixed terrier, as Mazdin Grim, 11, of Clovis looks on Saturday at the church's animal blessing event.

Bonita Knox stepped to the podium, as she had so many times before as pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, and surveyed a crowd of a dozen about to receive blessings.

All dogs, and one cat," said Knox, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, said to a rambunctious audience and their owners at the church's annual blessing of the animals event. "Thank you for being very brave to bring kitty."

Assisted by Father Larry Mote of Trinity Episcopal Church in Portales and Father Alan Brockmeier of St. James Episcopal Church in Clovis, Knox conducted the annual event with music and short speeches before delivering a blessing to each animal in attendance.

The event is held every October to remember and recognize St. Francis of Assisi, who renounced his current and future wealth to serve the poor and called pets and animals his brothers and sisters.

"They provide so much joy," Knox said of the pets, whether at the event, displayed in submitted photos or noted in prayer requests. "They provide so much work for us, and we are thankful."

Knox said previous blessings may have happened earlier, but it is documented to go back to 2008.

The event, traditionally held outdoors, was moved inside the church due to chilly weather with doors kept open in case animals got too rowdy. Other than a few barks and one dog's unsuccessful attempt to bite Brockmeier's hand, the pets were behaved enough to not disrupt the flow of the event.

Knox, Brockmeier and Mote all read passages from the Bible that mentioned animals, including Pslam 104 and Genesis 1:20-25, which indicates that God created every living creature that moves and saw that it was good.

"When he gave man dominion over animals," Mote said, "he meant man to care for the animals just as God cared for man."

Don and Carol Campbell of Clovis, members of Trinity Lutheran, brought red heeler Jack and granddaughter Mikenzy Davis. They've attended the event every year and this year got a blessing for Jack, who needed his front right leg amputated following a scuffle with a more aggressive dog.

Speaker and CMI columnist Sharna Johnson addressed the audience and said the event wasn't the time or place to advocate for matters like spaying and neutering and rescuing animals in shelters — though those were important matters — but to recognize the relationship between man and animals.

One can struggle with questions of denominations and spirituality overall, she said, but, "that is the one place, without a doubt, that I have seen God at work."