On Sacred Cows

In reading our books this Lent, I made a loose correlation with a term I heard over and over again at the local Diocesan Convention: we need to give up our sacred cows.  Of course, it seems this reference reaches back in some way to the Golden Calf, the idol that the Israelites chose to worship instead of God.  They were impatient, restless, and not quite sure what the great I AM was going to do with and among them.

In our Lenten introspection we have to admit that we are not much different.  We still have our 'sacred cows' in church and in our call as disciples. What are they? A reading of Hezekiah's story reminded me of some of the sacred cows that may be still grazing and roaming among us.

Hezekiah is affirmed in Scripture as doing “what was right in the Lord’s sight” (2 Kings 18:3). The next verse details what Hezekiah did: “He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made, for the Israelites burned incense to it up to that time.”

Surely the people understood a strong, spiritual leader removing the idols that grabbed the hearts of the people and stole worship from the Lord?  Or did they? What Hezekiah did next must have been really unexpected and really controversial. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses made—intentionally. Not by accident. Not “I was carrying it and it fell.” And, you can imagine, to break bronze took some effort.

Eliminating pagan idols is one thing, but the people recoiled: “that was the snake Moses made!” It was the bronze snake God told Moses to make, the one people looked at to be delivered from their snakebites (Numbers 21).

Hezekiah broke the snake because the people were burning incense to it. They were worshiping a bronze snake. 

Tools for transformation can become objects of worship. We can make an idol of just about anything and we tend to make idols of things that are important to us. Thus, a bronze snake that God used to bring healing, held by the leader of God’s people during their liberation from slavery, became an object of worship.

Today is not altogether different. God’s people still struggle with taking tools for transformation and making them objects of worship. As we dialogued at the Diocesan Convention, three sacred cows kept being mentioned:

1. The Place

Because the Lord does a great work in the hearts of His people when they gather, the places of gathering can move from a tool for transformation to an object of worship. Thus, if a leader mentions “relocation,” the leader is essentially threatening to cut a bronze snake into pieces. We are reminded that the building is not the church, that God's people are the church. God does not live in the place where we gather; God lives in the hearts of His people.

2. The Past

Because the Lord worked in amazing ways in the past, the past can become an idol where people long for the past more than they long for the Lord. Being grateful for the past is one thing, and worshiping it is quite another. If “former days” were great, they were only great because of the Lord.

3. The Programs

Because God changed lives through a program or event, people can elevate a program to an unhealthy place. Programs can become ends in themselves and not tools used in a church’s discipleship process. When this happens, they exist as modern-day bronze snakes.

How can we remove our modern-day bronze snakes?

As mentioned before, we are called to be like John the Baptist and his bony finger: we must constantly point to the person of Jesus. Only He is worthy of our worship and only He can transform hearts. When we help people see the greatness of Jesus, idols look less attractive. As we turn our eyes on Jesus and look full in His wonderful face, the things of this world (place, past and programs) grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

We also have to be reminded of the purpose of the church. A church exists to make disciples. When a church embraces the mission of making disciples, programs are viewed as tools and not as ends in themselves. When making disciples is what a church is all about, the place is rightly seen as merely a place to help make disciples.

In what ways can we do this more heartily now in this Lenten season and as we turn from our sacred cows and back to God's will?

A prayer from Walter Bruggemann:

God of all truth, we give thanks for your 

faithful utterance of reality.

In your truthfulness, you have called the world "very good."

In your truthfulness, you have promised,

"I have loved you with an everlasting love."

In your truthfulness, you have assured,

"This is my beloved Son."

In your truthfulness, you have voiced, "Fear not, I am with you."

In your truthfulness, you have guaranteed that

"Nothing shall separate us from your love in Jesus Christ."

It is by your truthfulness that we love.

And yet, we live in a world phony down deep,

in which we participate at a slant.

Ours is a seduced world,

where we call evil good and good evil,

where we put darkness for light and light for darkness,

where we call bitter sweet and sweet bitter,

where we call war peace and peace war,

so that rarely we see the truth of the matter.

Give us courage to depart the pretend world of euphemism,

to call things by their right name,

to use things by their right name,

to use things for their right use,

to love our neighbors as you love us.

Overwhelm our fearful need to distort,

that we may fall back into your truth-telling about us,

that we may be tellers of truth and practitioners of truth.

We pray in the name of the One whom you have filled

with "grace and truth." Amen.