Traditions & Loop Holes...

Scripture:

Mark 7:1-13

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Our Daily Bread's devotional today talked about look holes.  How when we find one we try to jump through it.  In by doing so we become disobedient to God. If you look at taxes and tax laws you can find dozens of loop holes in order to get out of paying taxes.  On one hand we all want to find the loop hole in order to save ourselves a little money.  On the flip side our government gets less of a budget to work with, not that that stops them...

However, one of the things that really stood out to me in Mark 7 is traditions.  Traditions can be good for us.  They teach us who we are and where we come from.  We learn about our past.  But, when do they become a burden instead of a benefit?  I remember when I was growing up when traditions became an issue.  One of the things I heard most from certain people is "That is the how we have always done it."  Another saying is "We never did it that way before."  

Heaven forbid should the church try something new or different. 

One time The sanctuary needed to be repainted.  There were paint chips in the walls and ceiling bigger than your fist.  The carpet also needed to be replaced.  The board of trustees decided to paint the sanctuary and even agreed on a color.  An offer for a good deal on carpet was given.  They had to commit to it fairly quickly.  Again the trustees decided to get the carpet.  You would have thought the devil came through the doors.  Things got so bad that several of us thought the church might actually split over the color of the walls and carpet.

I for one love traditional services.  I love the meaning behind what is done.  I often have trouble in new churches that are more contemporary in style.  I realized I was becoming one of those people that get stuck in tradition.  I am still learning to embrace a different style of worship.  I feel sad at the loss of some of our traditions.  However, in our current church all my children love to go.  They can't wait to go to what the little ones call "Dark Out Church" Wednesday night programs.  Sunday morning is "Light Out Church" and once again the little ones cannot wait to pick out outfits to wear.  My older two also love to go.  They have puppetry ministries, Extreme groups, and friends to see.  They learn and grow more where we are than they have ever done so in the past.  They have grown more spiritually at Crossroads than at all the traditional churches we have gone to combined.

Sometimes we can stifle or kill spiritual growth if we bog it down in tradition.  People get turned off if you try to shove traditions down their throat.  I think the worst thing we can ever say to someone is "That is not how we use to do it" or "That is not how we do things here."  As long as we are scripturally sound, biblically correct what does it really matter...