After 22 years of serving as a pastor, I did something I never could have imagined. But there I was: standing in our church’s worship center, filled with civilians and law enforcement officers, prepared to preach a sermon at a memorial service—for a dog. Those who know me—a conservative Southern Baptist pastor—were probably more shocked than I was.
How on earth had I found myself in this situation?
It all began earlier in the week when I received an unusual phone call. I was asked if our church would be willing to host a memorial service for a K-9 officer named Ogar. You may remember the story in the news. The dog was shot by a criminal fleeing the scene of a crime.
I had recently grieved the loss of our own family dog, but Ogar’s death was more than just an emotional loss.
I was sympathetic with the emotions surrounding the death of Ogar. As an animal lover, I had recently grieved the loss of our own family dog, but Ogar’s death was more than just an emotional loss. Dogs that serve the police are treated like an officer. They are trained to serve and protect the citizens of their community in many of the same ways their human counterparts do. Therefore, when a K-9 loses its life in the line of duty, the dog is treated with the same honors as any other fallen officer, which includes receiving a special memorial service.
The opportunity was intriguing to me because I had been involved in private conversations regarding how Christians should think about animal welfare. Karen Swallow Prior, who serves as English professor at Liberty University, had recently become a good friend. Prior’s writings and private interactions had challenged my thinking along these lines. I had not realized how much my thinking on this subject had been shaped along political lines rather than by close study of Scripture.
Talking about animal welfare in our politically charged world is difficult. At one end of the spectrum are those who see themselves, not as stewards of God’s creation, but as ruthless lords over it. On the other side are those who put animals on equal ground with humans. It’s hard to have an honest discussion about this topic with such prevailing extremes. Even if I agreed to speak at the service, I thought, there would be some who thought this was a foolish exercise. At the same time, others would not be content unless I preached about Ogar guarding the pearly gates.
I couldn’t please people on either extreme. But I started to wonder if this could be an opportunity to help those who came to this service to hear how the Word of God should help us think about the death of Ogar. As a pastor, my commitment is to be submissive to the Scriptures. Can Scripture speak to us even in a circumstance like this?
I concluded that it could. The officers were grieving over a real loss. Ogar was more than just a dog to them. He had served as a law enforcement officer who had lost his life in the line of duty. They knew it could have been just as easily been them gunned down on that fateful day.
There’s another reason Ogar’s death was painful for them. The creation account in Genesis points to a special relationship between mankind and animals. We are fellow creatures. God didn’t ask Adam to name trees and plants and mountains. He commanded him to name the animals. It seems that God intended for humans to share a close bond with his other creatures. Maybe that is why we are able to get so emotionally close to our pets. The officers’ grief that day was not mere sentimentalism; it was part of God’s design.
Amid my conversations with Prior, I had searched the Scriptures and was amazed at how clear it was concerning the welfare of animals. Proverbs 12:10 states, “Whoever is righteous cares for the life of his animals.” In Deuteronomy 5:14 God commands Sabbath rest for animals. The relationship between mankind and animals—even regarding our dominion over them as prescribed in Genesis—was never intended to be one of disregard or exploitation. He gave them to serve mankind for his sovereign purposes; they were never to be regarded only as tools, discarded as if they were nothing more than a shovel or hammer. Ogar served his created purpose; did exactly what he was created and trained to do. He did it well, and it was fitting to honor that service in light of the circumstances of his death.
Death—even the death of an animal—can point us to our need for a savior.
As important as all of this was, my greatest concern was to declare the gospel. Is there anything that leads us more quickly to the gospel of Jesus Christ than the reality of death? Even the death of Ogar could point us to the gospel. Death is a result of sin, which is the reason that Ogar or anything dies. Death entered the world because man sinned. We are the moral agents who brought the death that we see all around us. Therefore, death—even the death of an animal—can point us to our need for a savior. I told the people present at Ogar’s memorial that God sent Jesus into this world to die the death we deserve and provide forgiveness from our sin so that we might escape the judgment of eternal death. Jesus is the one who fixes what is wrong with this world, and he will fix what is wrong with us if we believe in him.
I will not be conducting more pet memorials. But I was grateful for the opportunity to speak that January afternoon. I preached a message of comfort to those who were grieving, gave a biblical perspective on how to think about the death of Ogar, and pointed people to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only thing that helps us make sense out of the death we see in this world.
Preaching the service brought as much controversy as passing it up would have done. But my hope is that in choosing to do so, I was faithful to God’s Word and that a real opportunity was seized to proclaim the gospel to those with eternal souls, all because of the death of a dog named Ogar.
Tom Buck is pastor of First Baptist Church of Lindale in Texas.
