“I thought people would find it really impactful if Maple walked down the center aisle and onto the stage when I talk about The Lamb of God be lead to His crucifixion during the sermon on Good Friday.”

Those were the words (essentially) that were said when the Pastor at Tiffany’s church asked about the possibility of including my little ewe in the service. I was fairly apprehensive about it. It took a while to convince Maple that a halter was not a death harness. There was no need to scratch at it with her hoof. No need to bellyache about the cruelty of life. No need to throw daggers with her eyes at me for an hour. Ultimately, she finally agreed. However, we had made no progress regarding leading her around by such a harness.

Tiffany did a bunch of research, and ultimately sent me a link to a video from a shepherd I trusted. They not only raise sheep for money, but he has kids that show sheep for 4-H. I have seen such kids… er children… not to be confused with baby goats… and I find them fairly impressive young folks. I watched the video, and put a plan into play. The plan required most of the work to be done by her, and I can not push against the wall of things like migraines. However, I got new lead halters and we went to work… mostly Tiffany. I didn’t feel like Maple was ready, but she did ok. Friday evening I helped load her into the Explorer, and Tiffany hoisted Yeager into a crate as well for moral support.

Maple did not like being led, but she tolerated it. She exhibited her disgust by jumping up and spinning in mid-air a few times on her way to the front. At one point while walking down the center aisle, she randomly chose a person sitting at the end of the row, and decided to have a little communication. At that time I think she was thinking of entering into politics… maybe a brief career as a struggling entertainer and needed to practice working a crowd. At any rate, she said hello, got a pet on the head, checked the hand for treats, and then proceeded down the aisle imagining herself elegantly passing though the crowd like Maria Von Trapp during her wedding march in Sound of Music, although she was probably closer to the drunk bride at an Elvis chapel in Vegas.

She wouldn’t completely go on stage, but she agreed to stand on or in front of the stairs. She continued to practice her acting chops. According to Tiffany, when the pastor said, “could you imagine someone wanting to slaughter a lamb like Maple?” Maple yelled out “BAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” This is not a gentle soothing sound. This is the sound she makes when she is by herself and can’t find me. If I make noise opening the gate when trying to do chores, she screams at me and comes running. It was that sound. They are  pack animals. What can I say? They need company all the time. The older kids said that was her yelling, “NOOOOOOOO!” to the question of slaughter.

Afterwards, Tiffany took Maple outside and got Yeager out of the Explorer. It seems that children and adults alike were interested in greeting our little bottle lambs.

Of course, in this event, Yeager stole the show being that he could be picked up and more easily snuggled.

All in all, I think it was indeed, a very Good Friday.