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HOLY COWS
(Reading: Matthew 26.6-13)

Hundreds of holy cows used to wander the villages of the East, devouring the food of hungry peasants, yet they were defended with fervour. The thought of butchering them to provide food for the hungry was as appalling as the burden of maintaining them, so they lumbered through the land for centuries, dominating the scene by their enormous intrusive presence.

Christians often fill their heads with holy cows. Herds of pseudo-sacred notions lumber through their thought processes and tear away at their resources. They command such a strange superstitious awe that people fail to chase them away, trying to pretend that they never notice them. But cows are hard to hide - even holy ones - unless you are actually looking for them. Then you find that they have the peculiar property of vanishing from view

One time, when at a meeting in Shrewsbury, one of the items that came up during the course of conversation was regarding a church in South Wales that wanted to modernise the buildings, and would be asking the Connexion far half a million pounds to enable them to do all that they plan. It is probable that this money would be used, if it should be approved, to enable a building that is no longer suitable for its purpose to become more efficient. What it will most probably fail to do, though, is create a new environment that will adequately fulfil the task that it should do. Like many congregations today, I'm sure that the congregation of this particular church sees it as their primary duty to ensure the salvation of their building for eternity (or at least for another hundred years or more!). This is perhaps commendable in a museum. Indeed the Tate Modern Gallery was constructed within the shell of a disused power station at a cost of some £l34 million! Yet the purpose of the church, speaking in terms of the Church universal, is to save souls, not buildings. Buildings, however beautiful they might be, are really little more than places where God's people can congregate in for worship before moving out from to fulfil the commission of spreading His message of salvation. To put the building first denies the essence of Christ's headship. The building becomes a holy cow!

All too often the significance and relevance of Jesus Christ is hindered in today's world because of the religious restraints that many people try to contain Him within. We live in an age of instant wealth for many. Millionaires are made on television quiz shows, and weekly during the lottery draws. Dot-com Companies turn people into multi-millionaires on the basis of profits that might be made, despite the fact that none have been so far by many, if not most, of the businesses. Yet still we hear, see, or read the news reports of mass poverty in many parts of the world. "The poor will always be with us", Jesus said, yet today's Society has turned them into holy cows too. People become so used to the poor being there that they learn to ignore them, or at least to enjoy their wealth despite them. There are huge food shortages in some parts of the world, yet huge surpluses in others. If only it was possible to milk the holy cows of their religious status. Then finally we would be able to use them to feed the hungry souls with the real food of righteousness; the real message of salvation; the message that Christ brought to the world. The message is beautifully simple: ‘Repent of your sins, believe in Me as the Son of God, sacrificed for you, and you will see salvation.’

Think about it ― Celebrate it ― Live by it every day.