Sometimes Traditions gotta go

When you come to appear before me, 

who has required of you

this trampling of my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations--

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

the have become a burden to me;

 I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even through you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

Was yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

bring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow's cause.

Quite a while back I did a series on communion. The reason for that was because on a Sunday an elder at the church I was attending got up in front of the congregation to pray for communion, and switched into praying for offering. He was not aware of what he was doing, it was tradition and habit for him. And it caused problems that many of the older congregation laughed off, while the younger generations were displeased with the slip up. Not because of a major reverence for communion like Catholics (which is fine) but because to us, it disrespected God. 

There was a story that I heard about an old church that had a division. They took communion every Sunday, and when they set it up front they placed a sheet of cloth over it. The older people in the congregation made a big show of it, revered the cloth, said that it symbolized the cloth that Jesus was buried in. Finally the pastor had enough of it and started a fight about it in the church. Eventually one of the previous elders was brought in to discuss when and why the cloth was used. He said that back in the 40's they didn't have air conditioning, and so they kept the windows open in the summer. The cloth then was to keep the flies off of the communion things.

How often do we do things just because "That's the way that they've always been done!" How often do we just follow those in front of us when it comes to religious practices? We forget why we do things and we begin to focus on the wrong aspects. And God hates it when we do that. 2 Corinthians 13.5 tells us to examine ourselves, to see if we're in the faith. Test ourselves. Galatians 6.4 tells us to test our own works. Be mindful of what we're doing and why we're doing it. Never be afraid to challenge why you do something.

Each week at CSF we take communion. Why? Because scripture says that every time we come together to take it in remembrance of Jesus. On top of that it's to refocus ourselves on why we're here. Not just here as in in CSF but in this world on this campus whatever it may be. It's to remember that Christ died so that we may live, and we must live according to the calling to which we have received. It's an intentional act. Not tradition, not because people before us did it.