Cream rises to the top.
MAY 12, 2007 – If you want milk, you get a cow. That’s the way it was years ago. People learned that the milk must be boiled to be safe to drink. Then along came huge dairy farms, milking machines, glass bottles, and pasteurization. In many cities, milkmen drove their carts through the streets and delivered those bottles to the doorsteps of customers. The next big step was homogenized milk. Look Ma, no cream. Before homogenization, the cream in every bottle of milk rose to the top. You could either shake it up or drain it off and use the cream for purposes other than drinking.
I’ve been thinking about how the cream used to rise to the top, and how homogenization changed that. Homogenized milk is the same throughout. Separated cream is in other containers on the grocer’s shelf.
I’ve also been thinking about the many pressures in today’s world to homogenize society. We have developed a mindset that doesn’t want the cream to rise to the top.
And I’ve been thinking about homogenized churches, where everyone is expected to be just like everyone else. Jesus loves diversity among His people; just take a look at His twelve disciples, each different from the others, and follow Him around in the gospels to see how many different kinds of people He invited to follow Him.
The rallying cry of the church is, “Love one another.”