Beware of Tradition! It can be good and it can also be bad. You see, tradition is a comfortable thing for many of us because it is familiar and holds no unwelcome surprises. In the physical realm, we find reassurance in doing things the way we have become accustomed to doing them, but in the spiritual realm, we must be careful that traditional thoughts, ideas and behaviours do not pull us away from the truth found in the Scriptures.
The problem with blindly adhering to tradition is that tradition can be based on surface appearances and what others think, rather than what pleases God. God wants us to worship Him from our hearts not just by outward actions or traditions. Colossians 2:8 warns us, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
Hence we need to be very careful, here is a story that can help us in this regard. The story goes thus:
A young rabbi went to serve his first synagogue, and he noticed that on the first Sabbath, when he said the prayers, the congregation on the left side of the synagogue stood at the beginning of the prayers, and the congregation on the right side remained seated. The young rabbi thought this was a little odd but continued to say the prayers. After the first couple of petitions, he noticed a murmuring, which intensified as he continued the prayers. Finally, it got loud enough that he was able to make out some of the words.
The murmuring in the congregation was a disagreement between the two halves of the congregation; the left half was saying that in this synagogue the tradition was that the congregation stood during the prayers, and the right half was saying that in this congregation the tradition was that they sat during the prayers.
As the prayers continued, the voices got louder, until finally the rabbi stopped because he was sure that God was the only one who could hear him anymore.
Hoping that this event was due to having a new rabbi (and attempting to influence him), the young rabbi did not discuss it with anyone, but the next Sabbath, it happened again.
The argument once again got so loud that the young rabbi stopped before he had finished his prayers – people were actually yelling at each other. The tone had gotten rancorous, and each side of the congregation started to engage in accusations of heresy and other name-calling.
The young rabbi looked up the elderly rabbi who had served this congregation for years and told him what was going on. The question he asked at the end of his story was, “So is it the tradition of the congregation to stand during the prayers?”
The older rabbi stroked his beard and replied, “No, that has never been the tradition of that congregation.”
“So, the tradition is that they remain sitting during the prayers?”
The older rabbi looked off into the distance, as if remembering the good years serving God as a rabbi and said, “No that was never the tradition of that congregation either.”
The young rabbi threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and said, “There must be some solution to this! The way things are now, they just end up screaming at each other during the prayers.”
The old rabbi’s face lit up in a smile as he lifted an admonishing finger to the sky and said, “Yes! That was our tradition!”
You see my friends; God is more concerned with who we are on the inside than the outward ceremonies we observe. We can pray standing up or we can pray sitting down and still never really pray. The position does not matter.
We can wash our hands a thousand times and still have sin in our hearts. We can sing every song in the hymnal or say every prayer and still not know God. We can worship on red carpet all our lives and never really experience holy ground. We can eat the bread and drink the wine every time we desire and still never commune with God. It is not the outward form of our tradition that matters; it is what lies in our hearts that really counts.
Remember: We need to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go. Tradition is a guide, not a jailer. We must be in tune with the times and prepared to break with tradition.
About the Author: Mrs. Marilyn Hodge owns and operates the Wellness Centre in the Farrington, Anguilla. The Centre offers Counselling Services by Appointment Only and has now published Positive Living Volume 3. Contact information: 476-3517 or email: marilynb@anguillanet.com. www.facebook.com/axawellnesscentre
