Pecking Order
Christian Kardashians and why the Chicken Crossed the Road
Chickens are funny things. My sister keeps chickens, and before the coyotes started coming around and considering her place as their fresh deli, she used to let them roam her property and scratch amongst the plants for bugs and things to eat. She used to tell me they all have different and unique personalities.
I thought she was nuts. They're just dumb birds, I thought to myself. I was wrong. If you listen to my, This Outside Life podcast where I talk with the farm animal rescue group, you can discover just how different some chicken personalities are. Some are quite social and gregarious and like hanging around people. Others are definitely into power and authority. They want everyone to know that they are number one and they want to be treated as such. And some just like to go with the flow and not be bothered. After you watch chickens for a while, you'll see there is a definite pecking order. That's where this idiom comes from.
A pecking order amongst chickens is essentially about who is the most dominant or alpha chicken. And chickens do peck, or pick at each other. Usually this is just occasionally, a little thing. It’s just here and there, bit by bit, it's almost an essential part of establishing a pecking order or hierarchy among the flock. So the top hen will pick on others lower down on the social ladder.
Most of the time, this isn't a real problem, and you'll probably find that the bird at the bottom of the social order will just simply skedaddle out of the way if it gets fed up and no real harm is done. However, if the hens are kept in an enclosed run, simply running away might not be an option for that pecked-on hen.
Feather pecking is as the name suggests, when one hen starts pecking at another's feathers and pulls them out, causing distress to the birds and in some cases can draw blood from a wound. Why do they do this? Well, boredom is one reason that sometimes these birds start pecking at each other, in which case most owners of home blocks make sure they get outside and have something to do or to look for, like scratching in the dirt or hunting for bugs.
Stress is a bigger factor. Birds under stress will start pecking and attacking each other. Sometimes even to the point of death. Stress factors can be something as simple as it's too hot in the chicken coop, or a new chicken has been introduced. New chickens are usually last in the pecking order and are easy prey for the others to pick on.
My sister says she ruminates a lot about human behavior after watching her dogs, sheep, and chickens. It seems every species has a pecking order, including humans.
It seems every species has a pecking order, including humans
There's been a lot of humans pecking at each other these days. Even in the Christian realm. It's almost comical when believers do it however, because we have so many subterfuges we can use. “Oh, we just need to pray for our dear friend so-and-so, and that awful thing she is dealing with in regards to her daughter!” Well now everyone knows exactly what so-and-so is going through and is free to judge her parenting skills or walk with Christ.
Or after the church service, we may pick at the pastor's sermon. “I don't know why he went on and on about that surrendering bit when he obviously hasn't surrendered his desire for a bigger congregation!”
Peck, Peck, Peck. It's just so darn easy and fun to do! And I've noticed it's easiest to peck at the people we don't even know. Maybe they've made a big stand on social media about a moral issue you don't agree with. Maybe they seem to be absolutely flouting God's word and darn it, it really bothers you. Why is God allowing this person to lead so many astray? Why are people so gullible? Why are no other Christians standing up and challenging their heretical or unorthodox views?
What about the “Christian Kardashian” celebrities?
Take for example, the “Christian Kardashians” of our world. They're incredibly famous, they have huge followings, they get a lot of screen time, and they are guests on everyone's blog and podcast. But some of their views can be extremely polarizing. It's hard not to peck!
But then my husband, Tom said,
“You know, I think when Jesus comes back, he isn't going to ask whether we got our orthodoxy right.”
Ooh, ouch. Orthodoxy. What does that mean? Well, it comes from a Greek word meaning, “right opinion, in adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.” (This is from Wikipedia). In the Christian sense, the term means, “conforming to the Christian faith as represented in the creeds of the early church.” Okay. What does Webster say? “Orthodoxy is a belief or a way of thinking that is accepted as true or correct.”
As Tom pointed out, what made the religious leaders so frustrated and angry with Jesus is that he seemed to flout their orthodoxy. Don't touch unclean people. Don't work on the Sabbath and all sorts of right opinions about acceptable behavior, and meanwhile, Jesus was frustrated by their complete lack of compassion. Hence the parable of the good Samaritan.
Jesus wants to know how well are you loving your neighbor, whether or not they're Samaritan or Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Mormon, or pagan? How well are we loving others or are we more concerned with being right? I'm not saying we should toss aside God's word or his commands, but I do think we would do well to pay heed to the 25th chapter of Matthew. Here Jesus describes what will happen when he returns and spoiler alert, there's no quiz on orthodoxy!
From the 25th chapter of Matthew, verses 31-46:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I don't know about you, but those words of Jesus haunt me and they bring me back in line when I'm tempted to peck, peck, peck at somebody else's orthodoxy, or what I think of is lack of orthodoxy.
These verses make me think about the many homeless people I pass by because I think to myself, you are able bodied, you could get a job or, you're just young and stoned. I'm not giving you money. Now, I don't take that attitude with all of the homeless people I pass by. I have a stash in my car that I hand out, but who am I to judge their situation?
How do I know what's going on in their lives? But obviously I have a pecking order in my head of whom I deemed needy enough.
So, what do we do? Well, I think we need to spend less time picking apart and hen pecking. The Christian Kardashians who have vastly different ideas that we do, the people in our congregations, our pastors, and even wait for it, politicians!
Think about this: There is no pecking order in the kingdom of God.
Think about this: There is no pecking order in the kingdom of God. So why are we jostling and fussing so much? Let God sort it out and let's get back to loving our neighbors as ourselves.
And maybe that's why the chicken crossed the road. She was tired of being hen-pecked. She just wanted to be loved and not judged.
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