“Tradition”
Emporium
September 1, 2024
10:30 AM
OT Lesson Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Okay now, we are about to read really beautiful poetry. It’s based on Persian love poetry. Very erotic. It’s a love song – the groom and the bride, and a few other voices. Like an opera. It, however, embarrassed the church fathers for so many years that they tried to convince everyone that its an allegory of Christ’s love for the church. Well, I love the church, but not like this. Listen, and enjoy.
8The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. 10My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; 11for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."
From love poetry we turn to the church fathers giving us fatherly advice about how Christ’s beloved people should behave. Good moral lessons.
James 1:17-27
17Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 21Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.
26If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Try to remain undefiled if you can. Is purity more than following the rules? Yes, and saying this is what gets Jesus into trouble with the big boys,
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"
6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."
21"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
I’ve got a problem with all this modern music in the churches today. This trendiness is upsetting. Where are the old classics, the good old church tunes? Some of this new music is a downright disgrace! They just don’t write church music the way they used to.
By the way, I’m role playing comments Johann Sebastian Bach received when he arrived with his new-fangled music and the introduction of the church organ. In the 18th century.
Ah, church traditions. You gotta love ‘em. Tradition. I like tradition. Sitting a certain way at the dining room table or a Sanctuary. Those special customs. Someone wise once described the way we sit in church is more like a folk dance. Lots of memories in those spots. Something beautiful, so long as we welcome new rumps.
Traditions. Tradition – paradosis in Greek, literally meaning ‘a handing down – what has been delivered.’
My mother went into conniption when my brother, now with his two daughters growed and living lives of their own, decided to spend Christmas in Hawaii with his wife instead of the tradition of gathering at our family homestead house on Christmas morning.
~~~
Like Tevye from the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” kvetching about the changes afoot and the loss of tradition.
It all changes around him.
Tevye: Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as... as a fiddler on the roof!
Traditions.
Of course, what Tevye really struggles with is how life always is shaky, even with traditions.
He struggles when the young ones question wearing prayer shawls or why shouldn’t women and men dance together
He really struggles when his eldest daughter has chosen her own man rather than accept the man the matchmaker and Tevye think best.
Tevye: He loves her. Love, it's a new starting. On the other hand, our old ways were once new, weren't they? On the other hand, they decided without parents, without the matchmaker. On the other hand, did Adam and Eve have a matchmaker? Oh, yes they did. And it seems these two have the same Matchmaker.
Do you love her for who she is or for who you want her to be?
Do you have a checklist for figuring out who you love, or do you discover you’re in love and then figure it out?
12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."
And little girls grow up and leave. There are no more soccer games to cheer at and watch them play. And life changes. Her growing up changes me. I don’t like it!
Tevye: [singing] Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? Golde: [singing] I don't remember growing older. When did they?
For the best? Maybe. Sometimes. Hope so. Either way, it just is and always will be. Needs to be. The future always is purchased in pain and loss. What else is new?
And you can’t keep them the way they were. You really wouldn’t want to. So we might as well dance to the fiddler!
[Hodel and Perchik begin dancing] Mendel: She's dancing with a man! Tevye: I can SEE that she's dancing with a man! Tevye: And I'm going to dance with my wife!
Poor Tevye.
He keeps trying to maintain his traditions. And yet, his daughters reject the match-maker, wanting to marry for love – his youngest runs away with her beloved and becomes Christian. His daughters study more than they ‘re supposed to as girls. His daughter dances with a man.
Traditions? Anchors? Or rudders to steer and guide? Us trying to keep balance like a fiddler on the roof.
~~~
Not that churches ever get stuck in our traditions. Dear me, no, never… Although I did have one elder who thought all the men serving communion should again wear tails and white gloves.
Of course, it does help to remember that every tradition started off as an innovation.
The comfort of the familiar.
It’s all shaky.
Who serves whom? Jesus pushes us to answer.
It might be tough, but might we think of other examples of our resistance to new ideas and change, especially one we didn’t like, but in the end found it to be better, worthwhile?
Civil Rights comes to my mind. So too the role of women in the Church. How about vaccines?
Mark Twain picked up on it when he said this: “Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.”
Besides, I can’t remember ever us as a society intentionally rejecting an innovation. Consider how easily we have adapted to smartphones, computers, seat belts, dishwashers, MRI’s, EKG’s, IVF’s. Tell me: which of these will you give up so you can you go back to the way it was? Try showing a typewriter to a bunch of kindergartners and ask them what they think it is. Remarkable.
At Jersey Shore when they were trying to decide on a gift for their graduates I mentioned how I gave my church graduates a Dictionary. The session rolled their eyes at me.
And how often did Bach hear the old timers grumble about his new-fangled music!
It does help to remember that every tradition started off as an innovation.
~~~
Again, remember to whom Jesus is speaking and why. Talking to those indignant Pharisees – those law abiding sinners -- who are grumbling, complaining, criticizing Jesus for ignoring their valued traditions such as fasting and the Sabbath and temple sacrifices and who to dine with and who not and the purification rituals. Them busily insulting the law-breaking sinners for breaking customs that are dear to them. Negative nellies looking for reasons to criticize. Rather than examining themselves. Don’t know about you, but I weary of hand wringing. Preached Harry Emerson Fosdick: “It is a lot easier to be morally indignant than constructive.”
The tradition of the elders. Hundreds of legal requirements necessary for right religion, so the Hebrew elders declared. All of which, by the way, were not written down until two centuries after Jesus. They were transmitted and enforced by word of mouth.
Jesus answers, “Where in scripture is this a requirement? Love the comment I heard yesterday which explains why I love Judaism: Judaism always answers a question with a question.
I appreciate traditions except that please remember that traditions are guides never jailers (paraphrase from Somerset Maugham).” Change is going to happen one way or the other. Why on earth should the dead govern the living?
And the good old days weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems…
[Billy Joel]
We’ve always done it this way. Jesus, you just don’t appreciate the way it’s always been done.
2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands,
that is, without washing them.
They don’t wash their hands!
Except, this isn’t about hygiene at all. It’s about them not bothering with the ceremonial purification rituals. Unclean. Ah come on, Jesus replies. Defiled only in a ceremonial way. What really defiles us?
There’s a problem when the ritual becomes more important than the meaning of the ritual. Let’s make sure we perform the ritual rather than reflect on whether or not our thoughts and dreams and consciences and ambitions and our hearts and minds and souls are clean.
~~~
Somehow this really fits Labor Day.
Or From the classic work by Thomas a’Kempis, “The Imitation of Christ:”
At the Day of Judgment we shall not be asked what we have read,
but what we have done."
— Book I, ch. 3
Or as James put it:
27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
It’s more than checking off the religious boxes and bucket list.
Philadelphia preacher Tony Campolo talked about how the angels were talking with Jesus about what he was going to do now that he’s been resurrected and up in heaven with them.
“What’s going to happen with the message? What’s the plan?”
“Well,” Jesus said, ”my people are there. They’ll take care of it.”
The angels, looking a tad doubtful, asked Jesus, “Okay, what’s plan B?”
“Got no Plan B,” Jesus said.
Tony Campolo told another story about him visiting an orphanage his church built. He flew down there to help set it up. They were bringing to the orphanage little children from a certain region. They boarded the bus and headed out to collect the kids. They arrived. Once there Campolo counted over 300 children. 300 orphans. 300 children with bellies distended from hunger, their hair turning red from malnutrition. 300. He had to choose 50. When you choose 50 to live, you choose 250 to be left behind.
Campolo described the ride back to the orphanage with the bus filled with the chosen 50. While the kids sang, he was silently screaming at God for the injustice: “Where are you, how can you be this cruel?”
If you’re going to get angry at God, if you’re going to get angry about something, please make sure it is something worthwhile.
On that bus Jesus answered him: “Tony, you know what the problem is.”
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