Replacing Fu·Ner·Al Atmosphere With Fun-For-All

A special pet friendship service was held at the Church of the Independent Congregation, Óháði söfnuðurinn, on Háteigsvegur road, Reykjavík, February 13, Morgunblaðið reports. People and pets attended the service.

“I wanted to give people a chance to bring their pets to the service and give the pets a chance to be present and part of this,” Pétur Þorsteinsson, the church ’s minister, tells Morgunblaðið .

“Many people own pets, and they could finally bring them along,” he continues. “Among them were people who haven’t come for many years, some even never, and it makes you happy to be able to appeal to this small group.”

The pets played an important role in the service: “At the end of the sermon, I sat down on the floor in front of the altar, and one [member of the congregation] brought his big, black dog,” Pétur relates. “While I was blessing the congregation, the dog sat down on its behind and moved its front legs as if it, too, were blessing the congregation. We were at the same eye level, and when I said, ‘Grant us peace,’ it stuck its tongue out and licked my face, so I was thoroughly blessed. And instead of the choir singing, ‘Amen,’ it barked, ‘Woof, woof, woof,’ giving the dog language a voice. ”

Pétur is known for being innovative. “This service was very lively, and a certain amount of courage is needed to be different,” he notes. “But this was well received, and the fact that people are open to this is very precious now that the churches are opening their doors anew.” Traditional religious services have been online only recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pétur states that being humorous is not the goal, but to give people a chance to rejoice together. He wants to share joy and happiness.

He would like to repeat this kind of service at some point. “One woman, for example, mentioned she keeps chickens,” he states, “and why not allow the chickens to fly around the church next time, if they have learned to fly by then? All the creatures on Earth are welcome at such a service.”

The goal of such a religious service is to cheer people up, Pétur states, and not least to lighten up the image of the church. The atmosphere there should not be too serious. Pétur, the author of many humorous dictionaries and known for being good at playing with words, puts it this way: “People experience [attending church] as an eternal fu·ner·al [Icelandic: jarðarför], but it should preferably be fun-for-all [Icelandic: jarðarfjör]. Here, everyone is welcome, and you should be able to have fun, joke, and have a good time when seeing other people.”

It is not unusual for special services to be conducted at the Independent Congregation. Tomorrow, February 27, for example, a music service is planned, followed by a magic sermon March 13, and a folk music and national costume service April 24. Traditional services will be conducted over Easter.