Fifth graders can beat me at math and history. I’d never make it on their game show. But this morning I wondered if I’m any smarter than a Pharisee. It is easy to read the Bible now and say, “those guys were so religious. Everybody knows the junk in your heart causes more trouble than what you eat.” Or whatever.
But, I wonder what traditions I embrace as doctrine when they are really just… traditions. In an effort to overcome that weakness years ago, we started throwing out things we branded as religious. Buildings with steeples had to go, replaced by storefronts. Thick hymnals were stacked in closets and huge screens were tacked to sanctuary walls. Three piece suits became the stuff of weddings and funerals. The preacher wore Dockers and Polos while the rest of us sported jeans.
As I’ve aged, though, I find myself missing the old hymns. And, the sight of a steeple in the countryside comforts me. It is like an arrow on a 3-D map pointing to a place of refuge in a crazy world.
This morning I remembered what Jesus said to the Pharisees about tithing. He said they tithed (gave an offering of ten percent of their income) on the tiniest herb in their garden. Then they ignored the important stuff in life like taking care of widows and orphans. My generation had a tendency to throw out the mint and cummin in favor of social justice and “free” worship. But the scripture actually says to do both. Jesus didn’t say “stop paying tithes on everything.” He said to do that AND take care of the widows and orphans.
It is possible that our jeans and tee shirts, Dockers and Polos simply became the Pharisaical robes of our own day. I am pretty sure we don’t have the gospel all figured out yet. I know I’m probably just as blind in some areas as those ancient teachers of the Law.
Maybe I should ask a fifth grader.
Kathy,
I was having this exact same thought not a couple of weeks ago; the changes,(and some of them not so good) that our generation ushered into worship and the church and that too, as I age I’m finding comfort in the old traditional ways of worship.
Actually, yesterday at church all our technology went south, our musicians were all out of town, can you believe on the same sunday, and we wound up singing accapella, our of hymn books. It was wonderful! Almost like someone had opened a window and a fresh breeze had blown through.
Rog and I still sing the old hymns together when we are going places in the car, we harmonize and we both enjoy it…..somethings are just good.
I’d love to hear you and Rog singing. Harmonies are one of the things I miss 🙂
I think you know this pattern is the thing I fear. Is every generation destined to build something the generation behind them will rebel against? I’m quite sure my kids will eventually challenge this season of our lives. I ask them now and then, giving them the chance. 🙂 What in the world is the answer?
I think the Bible itself gives us the answer. We are supposed to “tell the next generation the mighty things God has done.” As long as we always focus on introducing them to a relationship with God, it doesn’t even matter if they throw out our guitars and install a pump organ. Or whatever. Loving God is the goal, and that experience is timeless.
You are teaching your boys that.
I’ve been challenged lately that the new freedoms I have found in my “religion” are meaningless unless I’m embracing Jesus at the same time. There are plenty of rituals I used to do for Jesus that I don’t do anymore, and it really may be for the better. But once I’ve found myself loving the lack of rituals more than I love Jesus I’m in trouble.
So true, Char.