Sunday Mornings With Sage

Sage Canine Advice, by Sage Riverdog – July 8, 2012
Most dogs have a job, one of mine is on Sunday mornings.  I do the childrens sermon at A Mighty Fortress Lutheran Church in Coulwood.  Here is how my Sunday mornings go:

1. I enter the front of our church and make the rounds greeting people during the coffee fellowship time between Sunday school and church.
2. I make my way to the last pew on the left and take a nap waiting for everyone to gather.
3. Once the announcements are over and some of the singing and praying, Edna tells me it’s time and we start from the back of the church gathering up all the children who are in attendance that day.
4. They all seem to want to hold on to my lease at the same time so I walk slow and gather them up.
5. They sit on the kneeling bench and I am handed a treat while I sit down. Edna does the talking and sometimes uses me in her hands-on lessons.  Here are a couple pictures – first when we are talking about being a “Canine” Good Citizen and I really can’t remember why they put the feather boa on me.
6. After we are through with the lesson we stand up and say a short prayer together and all exit out the side door off to Joyful Noise (children’s choir) – I get a couple treats and make my way back to my pew, where I nap until the end of service.

Children’s Church is kind of like Forest Gump’s box of cherries – you never know what you’re going to get (how many children or what ages).   I enjoy my routine on Sundays.  

About Sage – Sage is an 8-year-old black Labrador retriever who lives with River District Executive Director Edna Chirico and Edna’s husband, John Huber. Sage earned a Canine Good Citizen award, which allows her to visit nursing homes, hospitals and schools. Sage loves to run, fetch, swim, ride in boats, travel in the car and play with just about anyone, especially children.