The Adventures of Clergy in the Country

       In rural areas of Australia, and probably North America, congregations often share church buildings. The story goes that one Sunday a pastor turned up at a country church only to be met by a single, solitary farmer. "Well, brother," he addressed him, "if you took a cartload of hay out to your cattle and only one cow turned up, you would feed her, wouldn't you?"

     "Most certainly!" was the farmer's reply.

     At the pastor commenced the whole service: full liturgy, hymns, sermon, the lot. When it was finished and he shook the farmer's hand, the latter said to him: "It is true, pastor, that if only one cow came I would feed it. But I wouldn't give her the whole blooming cartload!"

     Well, that's the story, which may or may not be true. Which brings me to an even more interesting one.