commandments and traditions

I remember a congregational meeting at a church I attended as a young husband. The only woman in the building that night was the one setting the coffee and cutting the bars, and she left as soon as lunch as prepared. The business, and all discussion of the business, was done by the men. No votes for females in that church.

I remember a time on church council when we argued points of procedure all the time. The ones who understood Robert’s Rules of Order had a distinct advantage over those who didn’t; the ability to manipulate parliamentary procedure equated to power on that council. Now Dawn is facing the same thing on a non-profit board she chairs.

Sometimes churches do things that don’t seem to have much to do with the love of God.

That’s why Jesus’ response to some Pharisees in Mark 7: 6-8 struck me this morning. They challenged him because his disciples ate without going through a ceremonial cleansing ritual first.

“He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
‘“These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.”
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’”

Restricting votes in congregations, or elevating the rulebook to almost the same level as scripture, are human traditions that were never commanded by God. I wonder how many other things we do fall into the same category? I wonder how many things that I judge others for are my own traditions?

It’s a reminder that love is hard. We prefer orderliness and calm and conformance to the messy, noisy chaos of humans rubbing up against humans. Relationships can’t be managed like meetings.

But God loves me in all my moods and attitudes and inconsistencies, and I can love others the same way. In fact, that kind of love is a commandment from God, and has little to do with human tradition.