“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter” (Thessalonians 2:15). Traditions help communities form their own unique identity. Traditions help establish ways of observing times and seasons. Traditions also connect us to those who came before us.
Yet Jesus was clear that traditions don’t need to stay the same forever. We read in the Gospels about Jesus breaking the traditions of his day by healing people on the sabbath, talking to women, eating with sinners, overturning money tables in the temple, touching lepers, and teaching hearers to love both their friends and their enemies.
Jesus changed these traditions because they no longer fit what God was doing. God was doing something new and exciting. These traditions were keeping some people from experiencing God’s love and presence, and they needed to change. When old traditions need to change or end, it gives us an opportunity to start new traditions – traditions that share God’s love with everyone and add value to our communities.
This message is excerpted from “Traditions” by Becca Ehrlich in the November 2018 Café online magazine. Today is the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost.
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