The Gospel reading for today is the familiar Story of the sheep and the goats. It is one of the stories that Jesus told during his final days in Jerusalem.

I never fully understood the story until the early-1990s, when I was rector of a small country parish outside of Downpatrick in Co Down.

We had a goat living in our garden; she was a friendly creature with a dark brown coat and a fine pair of horns. She was called Peggy and her kid was called Billy. Peggy was …