The Cow-Friendly Christ -- FPC sermon excerpt
Farm animals and golf.
That’s what interested my children about Scotland, when we got on the plane to begin my sabbatical. They wanted to get up close to cows and sheep, and play some golf in the country where the game began.
I had no idea how I was going to make that happen. But God is good. When we checked into our hotel on the Isle of Iona, a rugged rock just off the west coast of Scotland, the owner said, “We have an 18-hole golf course on the island, and you can borrow our clubs and play it for free. But I have to warn you. It is maintained by cows and sheep.”
He wasn’t kidding. The farmers let their animals graze the course, and keep the grass trimmed. The animals keep it well fertilized, also. So Sam and Sadie played golf in Scotland, and were able to pet some cows and sheep along the way.
Did you know that cows produce more milk when farmers know them by name? Yes, it’s true. If you call a cow by name, she will give you more milk. Show a little kindness and a personal touch, and she’ll be more productive.
Perhaps the same is true for us.
A new study out of England, reported in USA TODAY (February 5, 2009), reveals that affectionate treatment of cattle — including the giving of names to cows — can increase the amount of milk they give. The average cow produces about 2,000 gallons of milk a year, but if you know her by name, she’ll give you an extra 68 gallons.
I believe that there is a message here for the church. So I am going to milk this study for all it’s worth.
Cow-friendly farmers name their cows and make contact with them from an early age. This reduces the cow’s stress, and increases milk production. These farmers chat to them in passing, says the researcher in the English study. “They walk amongst the cows and speak with them.”
“A cow that is happy and calm is going to produce more milk.” So says Jon Bansen, the owner and operator of an organic dairy farm. He is convinced that naming a cow, combined with really understanding the animals and their behavior, is going to increase milk production.
So cows that are known by name are going to be happy, calm, and productive. Anonymous cattle are going to be stressed and unproductive.
This makes sense, doesn’t it? And God knows that the same applies to us.
The letter to the Hebrews says that “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (1:1-2). God sent Jesus to walk among us and speak to us, to show us God’s will and God’s way by being in relationship with us. Jesus “is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word” (v. 3).
That sounds a great deal like the first chapter of the Gospel of John, doesn’t it? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (1:1, 14).
God has spoken to us by a Son. He sustains all things by his powerful word. The Word became flesh and lived among us. Not distant, but with us. Not silent, but speaking to us. Not harsh, but full of grace and truth.
If cow-friendly farmers walk amongst the cows and speak with them, then it sounds as though we have a Cow-Friendly Christ. And like it or not, we are the cows.
That’s what interested my children about Scotland, when we got on the plane to begin my sabbatical. They wanted to get up close to cows and sheep, and play some golf in the country where the game began.
I had no idea how I was going to make that happen. But God is good. When we checked into our hotel on the Isle of Iona, a rugged rock just off the west coast of Scotland, the owner said, “We have an 18-hole golf course on the island, and you can borrow our clubs and play it for free. But I have to warn you. It is maintained by cows and sheep.”
He wasn’t kidding. The farmers let their animals graze the course, and keep the grass trimmed. The animals keep it well fertilized, also. So Sam and Sadie played golf in Scotland, and were able to pet some cows and sheep along the way.
Did you know that cows produce more milk when farmers know them by name? Yes, it’s true. If you call a cow by name, she will give you more milk. Show a little kindness and a personal touch, and she’ll be more productive.
Perhaps the same is true for us.
A new study out of England, reported in USA TODAY (February 5, 2009), reveals that affectionate treatment of cattle — including the giving of names to cows — can increase the amount of milk they give. The average cow produces about 2,000 gallons of milk a year, but if you know her by name, she’ll give you an extra 68 gallons.
I believe that there is a message here for the church. So I am going to milk this study for all it’s worth.
Cow-friendly farmers name their cows and make contact with them from an early age. This reduces the cow’s stress, and increases milk production. These farmers chat to them in passing, says the researcher in the English study. “They walk amongst the cows and speak with them.”
“A cow that is happy and calm is going to produce more milk.” So says Jon Bansen, the owner and operator of an organic dairy farm. He is convinced that naming a cow, combined with really understanding the animals and their behavior, is going to increase milk production.
So cows that are known by name are going to be happy, calm, and productive. Anonymous cattle are going to be stressed and unproductive.
This makes sense, doesn’t it? And God knows that the same applies to us.
The letter to the Hebrews says that “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (1:1-2). God sent Jesus to walk among us and speak to us, to show us God’s will and God’s way by being in relationship with us. Jesus “is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word” (v. 3).
That sounds a great deal like the first chapter of the Gospel of John, doesn’t it? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (1:1, 14).
God has spoken to us by a Son. He sustains all things by his powerful word. The Word became flesh and lived among us. Not distant, but with us. Not silent, but speaking to us. Not harsh, but full of grace and truth.
If cow-friendly farmers walk amongst the cows and speak with them, then it sounds as though we have a Cow-Friendly Christ. And like it or not, we are the cows.
posted by Henry Brinton | 8:28 AM
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