SPECIAL guest of honour at All Saints? Palm Sunday service in Okehampton this weekend will be of the four-legged variety, thanks to an article in the Times recently.
The Rev Stephen Cook contacted the paper earlier this year to see if any readers could lend the church a donkey which could take part in the traditional procession on Palm Sunday.
As a result a donkey and handler from the Donkey Sanctuary at Tedburn St Mary will lead the procession to All Saints Church from Okehampton Primary School.
Mr Cook said the procession will leave the school car park at 10.30am on Sunday, following the donkey up the hill to the church.
?When we get there we will lay the ?palm? branches on the path for the donkey to walk on, just as the crowds did on the first Palm Sunday. We will then have a short family service in the church, and the donkey will be there at the end for people to pet and feed carrots,? said Mr Cook.
He said Palm Sunday was an important day in the Christian calendar, being the beginning of the Easter period.
?When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he chose a donkey to show what kind of king he had come to be ? not a warlord, but a servant,? said Mr Cook.
?It is really about the nature of power and what real power is about. That?s probably quite an important message at the moment.?
All are welcome to the procession and the service afterwards.