Church Killers Part 1: “We’ve Always Done It This Way—”
Jeremiah 4: 1-2; Mark 7: 1-9, 14-15
If I had a dime for every time I heard the phrase, “We’ve always done it this way…” in church, I might could give up this lawyering gig. An organist friend told me a story of a church he served where the choir, during the first hymn, would march up the outer aisles, turn and come back down the center aisle, then do a quick about-face, and march back up the center aisle. He asked why, why would they do this requiring so much unnecessary time, energy, and coordination. He was told, “Because we’ve always done it this way.” No rhyme nor reason could be found, but this is how it’s done, so do it. In our Gospel lesson, the pharisees have this same mindset: tradition over the Word of God, a love of rules over a belief in grace, and complete avoidance of the question, “why?”
If we think about modern-day pharisees, they continue this trend of valuing human traditions over God’s word. The Gospel tells us of how angry the pharisees were over the violation of the hand-washing rituals and traditions. Centuries of tradition said that before eating there was a ritual of immersing hands in water and ceremonially cleaning cups, pitchers, and kettles. The pharisees challenged Jesus over his disciples not performing these traditions.
Jesus explodes in response. He calls them hypocrites. He accuses them of substituting their own tradition for God’s law. Traditions are beautiful, powerful, and a core part of the church’s history. But as the commentary says, “People come to hold on to merely human traditions as if they were divinely revealed. At the same time, the basic virtues of love, reconciliation, and good news…get lost.” Too many churches are so consumed by tradition that they have forgotten prayer, a message that welcomes the broken and hurting, and truly the point of the Gospel.
Consider, for a moment, Communion. We have created an untold number of rules surrounding Communion which vary widely by denomination. Two points on this. First, if Jesus shared cup and bread with Judas, then we can be a little less uptight. Second, the scriptures say that a person examines themselves, then comes before God’s table. Communion is a gift of all the holiness of God’s grace meeting the human who is seeking love and hope. The church has no business meddling in this sacred moment with human-made traditions. If we value tradition over God’s written word and spoken word to us, we will find ourselves cold and exclusive to those seeking God in their lives.
This also ties into another issue that the pharisees of old and now deal with. They love rules far more than the power of God’s grace. Jesus says in his explosive lecture to the pharisees, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.” Jesus tells them in verse 15 that it’s about the heart and not the rules we come up with to manage people. It is, in fact, far easier to design a system of religious practices and rituals than it is to transform the heart. It is also a lot easier to observe people following rules and rituals than it is to believe God has transformed a heart from sin to faith. Measurable goals and markers are a lot more comfortable than hearing “God moves in a mysterious way.”
Too many churches and too many Christians seek the comfort and familiarity of rules, traditions, and rituals rather than being still and saying, “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.” I remember the story I read of a songwriter who broke the rules of his day and listened to God. When he began writing his Christian music, he was told it was childish, silly, broke all the rules and traditions and was far too contemporary. It challenged the customs and norms of church music at that time. He was called a heretic. And his first prominent song was rejected by every church which saw and heard it. The songwriter was Isaac Watts and the song was “Joy to the World.” Up until that time, you see, the church had only ever chanted the words of Psalms. There were no hymns.
We cannot be afraid to praise God, worship with all our heart, soul, and mind, pray without ceasing, and read God’s Word, but also still ask “why?” When we challenge ourselves to ask tough questions and grow, we live in the way the prophet Jeremiah spoke about. In our Old Testament he called out to Israel on behalf of God, “If you wanted to return to me, you could. You could throw away your detestable idols and stray no more.” He calls on them instead to live out truth, justice, and righteousness.
The pharisees never challenged their human approach to God, never asked why they did these things, never asked why there were so many rules. And for them, the rules, the traditions, and the rituals became their idols. Too many of our modern-day churches talk of God but live with their idols. Refusing Communion, pushing people out, labeling as heretical those who are honestly working out their faith and engaging in dialogue, fear, selfishness, these things are idols in our churches.
But we have the power to tear down our idols when we begin by asking why. Why do practice our faith in the way we do? Why do we, as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) believe so strongly in the importance of Communion? Why do believe in God at all? As we begin to question, we find knowledge. We find wisdom. We find the truth of God’s Word. We find the guidance of the faithful here on earth and in heaven who have and continue to teach us what it means to live our faith in Christ. Ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find.
I wish I had a dime for every time I heard in church, “We’ve always done it this way.” I’d gain a lot of dimes, but I’d lose a lot of hope. To live as people of faith in this world we must appreciate the traditions and rituals but follow the Word of God and listen when God speaks. We must follow the rules but also remember that the grace and love of God are the most powerful forces on this earth. And we must always challenge ourselves to grow in faith. “Why” is not a bad word when it pushes us to grow. And so may we grow in the knowledge and love of God, and may we share that powerful grace through Christ’s call as the hymn says, “Healing, teaching, and reclaiming, serving [God] by loving all.”
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/3132452493685341