Sacred Cows

I have been reading a list of funny things found in church bulletins and school newsletters.  Here's a few things I've enjoyed:

“The third verse of “Blessed Assurance” will be sung without musical accomplishment.”

“The new school has an auditorium seating 1,000 people.  The old auditorium only held 999.”

“After the incident on the skiing trip, the injury to youth pastor Barnes does not appear to be worse than it is.”

“The Sunday School Christmas program,” explained Superintendent Wilson, “is no longer a scared cow.”

Of course the last one is supposed to read “sacred cow” not “scared cow”.    The term “sacred cow” originated with the way Hindus treat cows as sacred, life-giving animals.  In Hindu culture, cows are honored, respected, and never hurt – they are sacred.

Today, though, the term is much more generic than that.  The Encarta World English Dictionary defines it as “somebody or something exempt from any criticism or interference”. 

Reading between the lines of this newsletter snippet (blooper) implies that a church somewhere has been discussing whether or not they should continue to produce an annual Sunday School Christmas program.  I imagine it was a spirited debate.  Just imagine if someone tried to suggest that we here at Corinth UMC didn't hold VBS next year!

A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Jim sounded a call to action: “Who are we?”  “Who do we want to be?”  “Where are we going as a congregation?”  “Where will we be focusing our time, energy, talents, and spending our money on?”  We all need to be in prayer as we consider these questions.  Do we have any “sacred cows” here at CUMC?  Should they continue to be “sacred cows”?  Are there any ministries or programs that – after lots of prayer and consideration – we could possibly loosen our reigns a little bit and let others take the lead?  Doing so might allow us to become a more focused group.

What about in our personal lives?  Do you have any “sacred cows” that you wouldn't ever consider giving up?  Some sacred cows are seriously difficult to give up – addictions, infidelities, guilty pleasures.  Some may not be quite so serious: I was speaking to someone just the other day,  inviting him to attend Sunday School (starting Sunday Sept 12 at 9AM), and the response was, “I don't think I'll be there – it's just too early in the morning.”  Apparently, sleeping late on Sunday morning is this person's sacred cow – he couldn't even consider giving it up. 

How about you?  Do you have any sacred cows?  Let's pull up a stool and discuss how they can be put out to pasture!  (I don't think I can milk this metaphor any longer, so I'll be moo-ving on.)

Love for you all!

Glenn