Volume 33

He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Which wasn't surprising because he was a chicken with his head cut off. But he lived for months.

On September 10, 1945, Mike the rooster was pecking away at some grain outside his coop in Fruita, Colorado, when Lloyd Olsen grabbed him and carried the bird to a nearby chopping block. Lloyd's mother-in-law was coming to dinner and had a particular fondness for chicken necks, so the farmer wanted to leave as much of the neck intact as possible. Whack! Off came the rooster's head.

Mike ran frantically in circles, beating his wings, but didn't drop to the ground. In fact, the headless chicken eventually settled down and rejoined the other birds outside his coop. Not knowing what to do, Lloyd retreated back to the house and waited. Next morning, there was Mike minus his head asleep with the hens!

Awe struck, Lloyd decided to let the rooster live and came up with a way to use an eyedropper to put food and water down Mike's gullet. When the bird was still alive a week later, Lloyd and his wife, Clara, took him to the University of Utah. There, scientists found that Lloyd had missed the jugular vein and a clot had kept Mike from bleeding to death. The rooster's brain stem was intact and, since it governs a chicken's reflex actions, Mike's body was able to keep going.

Seeing more than chicken feed in the bird's future, the Olsens hired a manager and took Mike on the road where people paid a quarter each to see him. He got lots of press and "The Wonder Chicken" even found his way into the Guinness Book of World Records.

But one night, after 18 months on tour, the rooster started to choke on a kernel of corn in an Arizona motel room. Lloyd couldn't find the needle he often used to clear the bird's gullet and Mike suffocated. But his memory lives on. Today, every May, the 6,500 folks in Fruita, Colorado gather for the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival.

Events include a 5k Run Like A Chicken race, a Pin the Head On the Chicken contest, Rubber Chicken Juggling, and a Fowl Pet Parade in which people dress their cats, dogs and horses like chickens. In 2000, artist Lyle Nichols made a statue of Mike out of rakes, axes and other farm implements. He gave the Chamber of Commerce a discount because the statue didn't need a head.

The same cannot be said of Christians and churches. In the New Testament, Jesus is described as the head of the Body, the church, and he is indispensable. The proof is found among believers and whole congregations who lose their connection with the Head and find themselves running in circles, without guidance or direction. Aimless activity takes the place of focussed priorities, programs replace purpose and loving relationships take a back seat to budgets and traditions. Keeping house becomes more important than keeping faith.

Instead, writes Paul, hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ who's the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the others grow so the whole body is healthy,growing and full of love. Eph. 4:15,16.

Even when Christians with no connection to the head settle down, we become little more than an oddity to those who look at our faith and see little more than a freakish facsimile of what even they know should be there. Without the direction of Jesus, we're spiritually blind and vulnerable, and it's only a matter of time before we suffocate.

So we can go it alone and offer the world a silly spectacle full of distraction, or we can keep our connection to Christ and make a real difference among those who need help, hope and wholeness. The harder choice will take faith, prayer, a knowledge of God s Word and a sacrificial desire to live it. But it's worth it. So don't be chicken.

By Rick Gamble. Published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe to this free weekly article, send a note to Rick at rgamble@bfree.on.ca