You may have heard the story about a woman who was cooking a roast and cut the end off before putting it in the oven, even though the whole thing would fit. Her husband asked her why she did this, and she responded that she did it because she was taught to cook it that way, but admitted she had no idea why. She asked her mother why she cooked it that way, and her mom said that she cut the end off of the roast because that was the way she was taught by her mother. Trying to get to the bottom of this mystery, she then called Grandma for the answer. Grandma told her the reason she cut the end of the roast off before cooking was because her oven was too small to cook the whole roast, so she had no choice. How funny, yet sad-years of waste simply because the method was never questioned. It was what they were used to and that was that-it was tradition.
     In the church, we often do things simply because "that is the way it is always done." We are comfortable with routine and when something changes in that routine, we often want to run away and fight to keep what we know intact. These are traditions. Traditions are not inherently bad, but we must be comfortable examining all of them and deciding which ones to keep and why we keep them.
There are traditions that we need to keep, should keep, and must keep. They remind us of who we are and where we have come from. There are times, however, that our traditions can hold us back and keep us from loving God with everything we have. This happens when our traditions become more important that loving our neighbors, when traditions are more important than our unity, and especially when our traditions become more important than our Lord. We must be careful not to make anything we do more important than the One for whom we do them.
     As a body, our focus must be Christ, no more, no less. We must examine our traditions-the things we hold to dearly in the church, and decide if we hold on to them to serve God, or because they make us comfortable. God calls us to serve him with everything we have and be willing to sacrifice anything He asks us to, including our man-made traditions.
     What traditions are you holding on to? What are those things about church that you think are essential, yet are really traditional? What might you need to let go of? 
     See to it that no one takes you captive through "hollow and deceptive philosophy," which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

--Alan Dyson

 

 

 

 

 Wednesday, July 28 * 7:00 pm
A freewill offering will be received.
www.clovertonmusic.com

 

 

 

Tuesday mornings  * begins June 22  * 10:00--11:30 am
Wednesday evenings * begins June 23 * 6:45--8:30 pm

The author spends time with a shepherdess, a farmer, a vine dresser, and a beekeeper. Along the way, she gains deeper insight about how Scripture applies to life today and discovers answers to puzzling questions. What does it mean for a land to be described as overflowing with honey? How often does a grapevine need to be pruned? Do sheep really know their shepherd's voice?
Registration will continue on June 20 after each service.

 

*Workbooks may be purchased at the Fish Tales Bookstore.