Tradition. What sort of images and feelings does that word conjure up for you? Dusty old relics that are best kept in storage, or rich, meaningful practices that continue to speak life to us today? What would the word have conjured up in the minds of those who lived in the time of Jesus? Could it be that, perhaps, the most honest answer is "both." Some have suggested that "tradition" is the living faith of the dead, but "traditionalism" is the dead faith of the living. If so, what makes the difference?
In his sermon, Pastor Saul explores tradition and the meaning we find, and sometimes lose, in the midst of them. He invites us to consider:
How do you experience tradtion?
How would you like to?
What makes the difference?
To listen to Pastor Saul's sermon on Inherited Faith once again, click here.
Exodus 12:1-14 (TNIV)
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover.
12 "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
14 "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.
Another Classic Text Reflecting A Rich Sense of Tradition
Deuteronomy 6:1-12 (TNIV)
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Other Passages to Consider:
Luke 22: 7-10
Questions to Ponder
Take a few moments to reflect on the video clip from Fiddler on the Roof in light of Pastor Saul's sermon. Some additional things to ponder might be:
What are the positive, necessary things that tradition preserves for us?
What negative ways has tradition impacted the lives of people over the years?
How do we navigate "traditional" waters in a way that is healthy and life giving, and avoid those currents that are not so healthy and are life denying?
Think of a few of your favorite traditions and why they are meaningful to you.
Think of a few of your least favorite traditions and why they are troublesome to you.
Interested in reading a little more on tradition in general? try this