Tradition

Father, thank You for Your presence in our services today. I am also grateful for a relaxing afternoon at home with my family. My cup runneth over!

********

This weekend Karen and I visited a dear friend. While there she asked if I would like to read a book she had finished and because I love to read, I gladly accepted her gracious offer.

I’ve been an avid reader since childhood but in that last year or so, after a bit of a hiatus from reading a lot, I started to use an app called Libby. It’s very handy to have my “books” with me wherever I go – no more torn covers, no more spills, no more trying to balance everything. Whenever, wherever I want to read I just pull out my phone and open the app and I’m off and reading!

But I have to admit, it is nice to have the weight of the book in my hands. Modern technology may be taking a ding out of book publication, but many diehard readers want ink and paper in their hands! It’s the way it’s supposed to be! It’s a tradition – my parents and their parents before them read books!

On Instagram the other day someone posted the quote, “Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.” I chuckled a little when I read it but the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me.

We have to admit that some traditions are positive, encouraging part of our lives and others may be what we used to refer to as “sacred cows”, at least in the church. “Oh, we’ve always done it this way! To do it any other way, would be…well it would be downright sacrilegious!” I’m sure you can fill in the blank – the way certain things are done, the timing of events, pieces and parts of what we consider worship, programs that have been a part of church way before we started doing them.

There are lots of instances where eliminating traditions would be for the betterment of all. Effort and resources could be better used elsewhere. But other things – very important things – we need to safeguard. Some may think they are traditions, but instead, they are absolute necessities.

Take, for example, Deuteronomy 6:5-7. It is just one portion of the Law that God gave Moses to give the Israelites.

…you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. _NLT

Some things have to be passed on; the salvation of the world depends on it!

July 4^th, 2021, Sun, 7:28 pm