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.

     It was printed in issue 2025-A of The Highway Evangelist, part of a Christian ministry to the truckers of Australia. The author of this particular article is anonymous, or perhaps it was written by the editor and chaplain, John Wheeler. It may or may not be a personal experience.

     As a young minister I was asked by a funeral director to hold a grave side service for a homeless man with no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a new cemetery in the country and the man would be the first to be laid to rest there. Since I was not familiar with the area, I became lost and being a typical man did not stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late.

     I saw a backhoe and a crew, who were eating lunch, but a hearse was nowhere in sight. I apologised to the workers eating lunch for my tardiness and stepped to the side of the open hole where I saw a vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not keep them long, but this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered round still eating their lunch. I poured out my heart and soul. As I preached the workers began to say, "Amen", "Praise the Lord" and "Glory".

    I preached and I preached like I'd never preached before, from Genesis all the way to Revelation. I closed the lengthy service with prayer and walked to my car. I felt I had done my duty for the homeless man, and the crew would leave with a renewed sense of purpose and dedication, in spite of my tardiness.

    When I was opening the car door and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to another, "I ain't never seen anything like this before and I've been installing septic tanks for twenty years."