Sacred Moos

Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater. Acts 19:31 NASB

Not to venture – Day 3. I don’t worry too much about sacred cows. Cows are really pretty docile animals. They usually just go wherever they are led. I worry about what cows do. They moo. They make noise. They leave cow pies behind. They disrupt the peacefulness of the quiet earth. It is the actions of sacred cows that cause me concern. If you have a sacred cow, no problem. Just let it munch in its own field, contentedly consuming God’s green earth. But if you cause your sacred cow to start bellowing, creating disturbance and demanding attention, then I’ll have something to say. “Why don’t you keep that sacred cow under control? I mean, if you want a sacred cow in your backyard, hey, be my guest. But don’t let your sacred cow start crying for the attention of all the rest of the creatures in the Kingdom. It’s your sacred cow. Feed it if you wish. But don’t expect me to take care of your cow’s mooing.”

I suspect that most of us have a few sacred cows occupying the spaces between our considered opinions and our feelings of Presence. We need those cows to remind us that life is oh-so-peaceful.   Pastoral paradise on four hoofs. In truth, we probably use those cows to provide us with the milk of justification. That’s kind of like spiritual pasteurization. We heat up our rationalizations in order to remove any microbes of doubt. Fully convinced that our cows have the right kind of milk, we expect total homogenization where everyone else’s sacred cows finally fall into alignment with our lead cows. The goal is agreement. No cream rising to the top. Just nice plain uniformity.

The problem with uniformity is its contempt of difference. But difference is the fodder of community. If you and I agree about everything, there is hardly any point in talking, is there? I can have that sort of conversation any time I like. Just listen to me. When there is no difference, there is no need to speak. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why sermons seem so boring. I am told what I already know and what I know I will hear another fifty times this year. God loves me. I’m a sinner. I need forgiveness. Jesus is the way. So what? All those sacred moos don’t make me examine my chronic malnutrition. I’ve had enough sacred moo milk to make me vomit. I need a little chaos in my life—a little barb of disturbance, a little thorn in the flesh, a little cognitive dissonance. I need something that doesn’t come homogenized. In the end, what I really need is pain. I won’t stop trying to feed myself of moo milk until I know the nausea it produces. Cream rises to the top, but only if you don’t emulsify the fat. Cream can only exist in a world that allows difference.

Here’s a serious exercise for those of us who can no longer digest sacred moo milk. Feel the pain. Stop anesthetizing. Stop pretending. Stop avoiding. Stop. Feel what hurts in your life. Weep. Shake. Shout. Clench your fist and throw invectives toward heaven. Get real for a change. “No, I’m not fine, thank you very much. And if you really care about me, you will listen to my pain.” We are really Greek when it comes to this kind of reality. The Greeks reasoned that if something bad can happen to you, it can also happen to me. Therefore, I really don’t want to know anything about the hurts in your life. It’s just too scary.

Did you notice that even Paul’s friends didn’t want him to “venture” into the crowd? It’s interesting that the word here is dounai, from the verb didomi which means “to give.” Paul’s friends didn’t want him to be vulnerable. They wanted him to keep it for himself, not to give his message to a hostile crowd. Blend in. Don’t be different. The translators gloss the word so we don’t see that vulnerability is about giving.

Go watch Brené Brown again. Are you willing to be vulnerable—even with yourself?

Topical Index: moo, sacred cow, vulnerable, give, didomi, Acts 19:31

 

 

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Alicia

You’ve slaughtered a good many of my cows here. Now I’m trying to work through what I can and should salvage. A nice leather jacket? Maybe a few rib-eyes? 😉

Ron

My security used to be my sacred doctrinal box, Now it’s His sacred word, learn and walk, I like finding out where I am wrong so I can change. For Me this brings security,

December

I agree, Skip. Pain, yes, it’s the thing we avoid, want to avoid, have been taught we should avoid, go through trying everything to avoid and it’s the place we discover the most important things. Irony. I’ve heard sacred cows make the best hamburgers. It’s Memorial Day Weekend – maybe I can fire up more than my back yard BBQ.

bp Wade

Re: “a little barb of disturbance”….That be me. ~Barbara

Graham Vercueil

Thank you Skip, this helped me notice a few of those cows appearing suddenly when trying to explain this ‘ Hebraic’ position to someone quite ignorant of it. No hard opposition and the cows came out of hiding

Beth

Amazing truth here: People do expect total homogenization, alignment with lead cows; if they do, the cream will never rise to the top. Peoples’ gifts and talents will never be fully realized. People are afraid to disagree; I think we fear that our ideas will be discounted as we struggle to determine what truth really is. We may fear ridicule from our spiritual siblings in the assembly and/or the brutal abuse of certain lead cows who might thrash us to pieces for questioning them or for having a different opinion; we may fear we won’t survive such a beating to rise again or that we’d emotionally lose the desire and ability to test everything. We are all unique in many ways –including the way our minds are wired to think because our creator made us that way; life would be boring otherwise. I long for the day that people would be open to hearing my opinions without me feeling like I have to preface everything I say with a disclaimer or apology of some kind. I want my opinions to matter or have value in an open forum. I want to feel my thoughts have worth even if I may be partially wrong; I also want to kindly be informed if there might be something I haven’t considered. I want to be built up, not torn down. I want my worth to be reaffirmed when there is a difference of opinion. I want to be able to openly say “I love you” to someone because I love the way they consistently study and interpret the Scriptures or because of the way they act like Yeshua toward me; I want to be able to do this without begin accused of something unholy. I want people to say, “this is what we think about this Scripture passage, what do you think?” I also want to have a Greek or Hebrew scholar who is willing to be my friend and help me out when my level of knowledge of the languages are a bit inadequate or when I don’t have access to better language resources that I can’t afford. I don’t want people to withdraw from me just because we don’t believe exactly the same way on a particular topic. Our study goals are the same. We study the same Scriptures and yet we reach totally different interpretations at times. I find that frustrating; still, I want to be loved and accepted despite our differences. It’s a balancing act to wade through unexpected responses and to maintain relationships after a difference of opinion. I want the freedom and ability to discover the enormous number of patterns, details, majesty, and beautiful tapestry in/of the Word of God. I want to be able to say, “Hey, look at what I’ve found. Isn’t that awesome?” At times, I want them to respond, “wow, you’re right!”, instead of “no, that’s stupid!” When we disagree, we need to learn how to do it in a kind and loving way. I want to be vulnerable with others because you can’t have relationships without it but sometimes it hurts like fire when things turn out poorly. Sometimes you just have to step back and figure out when or with whom is it safe to be vulnerable again. That’s not always easy; it’s risky.

Ester

So well expressed, Beth, you’ve said it. “…maintain relationships after a difference of opinion..”? “Not disagreeing, you are just not welcome here anymore”, is likely the scenario.

To Laurita- YES, Beth just did!

Michael C

Thank you for this. I love what you said. It expresses my heart.

laurita hayes

Beth, did you just hammer out a mission statement for this site?