When a Good Thing Goes Bad: Sermon Mark 7:1-8

America loves tradition. Our country is steeped in traditions. We have ceremonies, songs, symbols, and places that make us feel more American. This weekend begins another tradition that many Americans especially southern Americans enjoy; college football. This weekend is the beginning of a season that makes many men happy and many wives and fiancés sad and grumpy.

But college football is immersed in tradition. Stadiums like Bryant-Denny, Jordan-Hare, Michigan Stadium, the Rose Bowl, and of course Neyland Stadium stand like cathedrals in honor of what many consider a religion. Certain traditions are specific to a particular university. For example, the University of Tennessee has the Vol Walk where players walk through the crowds to the stadium, the Pride of the Southland Marching Band forming the “T” and players running through it, and of course Rocky Top. Traditions are not limited to sports. Think for a moment about all the traditions we have when it comes to holidays in this country. Halloween is coming up in a few weeks with dressing up, carving jack-o-lanterns, and handing out candy to the kids. Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without turkey and dressing, eating too much, and taking a nap during the football game. Let’s not even get started on all the traditions tied in with Christmas, by the way only 112 shopping days left.

The joy of tradition is the repetitive observance of the tradition. We look forward to these days all year long and we get all worked up and excited and then we just have a ball. Traditions are good things. We will talk about the positives in a minute, but like anything there can be too much of a good thing.

The Church is not without its traditions. In fact, many of the things we celebrate during church service come from tradition. The doxology, the Gloria Patri, the singing of hymns, and the Eucharist that we celebrate today all come from traditions that started centuries ago. Our own denomination has a long standing history stemming from the Anglican Church in England and the Holy societies and groups started by John Wesley.

Traditions reconnect us to the past. We are united by things in the past that we can share commonly. The hymns that we sing and the affirmation of faith we say at each service are many years old and yet they are still relevant today one reason why is they reconnect us back to our past and our history. It is a wonderful think about the same hymns have been sung in this church for many, many years. All Christians can reconnect to the traditions of the Sacraments, baptism and Communion, they did not just come up in a last few years but are 100s of years old and they help us to remember that Christianity isn’t a new fad that comes and goes but it is the Church that is founded on the rock of Christ.

Traditions help to unite people together in community. We talked about college football earlier. The traditions of each school help to unite the fans and alumni of that school together as a cohesive community. The tradition of the United Methodist cross and flame symbol unites us together as United Methodists. Wherever you go in the world and you see that symbol you know that those people are Untied Methodists. The traditions of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus help unite them and keep them united in a time that they were occupied by the Roman government. They could cling to the traditions of their forefathers and remember that they were God’s chosen people.

Traditions also help us to make decisions as a united community. When the Church has an issue that it is dealing with we have a tendency to look back at what we have done before. John Wesley used the traditions of past theologians to help him find his own way through Scripture. So we see the importance of traditions not only in our lives as individuals but as a community and as a Church.

Our Scripture lesson this morning comes from Mark and in it Jesus is having a confrontation with the Pharisees. The Pharisees come up to Jesus and the disciples and accused them all of not following the Jewish laws. They say the disciples do not wash properly before they eat, so in a sense they are calling Jesus and disciples dirty. Does Jesus take this lightly? No, Jesus turns right around and tells the Pharisees that they have become so wrapped up in their traditions that they have lost the big picture. They have lost their connection with God. They have traded in their relationship with God for their own traditions. Instead of being dependent upon God they have put their entire faith on their rituals.

So, you see traditions can be a good thing that goes bad. Traditions can reconnect us to the past, but they can also keep us in the past. I have seen many churches get into the “Well this is the way, we’ve always done it” syndrome. We have a tendency to fear any kind of change or adjustment to our church routine. We come in we sing, we stand, we sit, we listen to a sermon, we sing some more, we put the money in the plate, we shake the preachers hand and we go about our day. We have service on Sundays, Communion on the first Sunday of the month, and we might have a Christmas and Easter services if we feel like it, and don’t go a changing it preacher. It’s a good thing to hold on to our traditions but sometimes we get in such a rut that we need to break out of it. I don’t want our time with God to become routine, but to be renewing and rejuvenating each week. I don’t want us to do things in the future just because it’s what we’ve always done, but to reach out to our community and to have faith that God will do great things for us if we take some chances. The Pharisees were so connected to the past that they failed to see the future God had in store for them, a future with Christ.

Traditions can unite a community together, but it can also exclude those people who are not members of the community. Sometimes we get so used to the people around us that we tend to not be welcoming to those who want to join our community. Also, we can be unreceptive to people that belong to a different community than our own and who practice different traditions. We see this in the story from Mark. The Pharisees were hostile to Jesus and the Disciples because they were not practicing the traditions that they were accustom. They were different and so they were not welcome to join the community.

Jesus was welcoming. He allowed people of all social classes, races, and ages to come and join him in his ministry. He did not pass judgment on those who sought God’s kingdom even though they were a part of a different community and therefore had different traditions. The Church, as the Body of Christ, must also be welcoming even to those who might be different from us. We must welcome those who dress, talk, act, and think differently that we do. It is easy to welcome someone who is just like we are, but it is much more challenging to be receptive to those who are different.

The Communications Board of the United Methodist Church created a slogan a few years ago, entitled “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, The People of the United Methodist Church”. I have seen some of you with that bumper sticker on your cars. It’s a catchy slogan and one that we feel good about, however, if we are going to use that slogan than we have live that slogan. Our churches must be open to all people of all races, social classes, and cultures. We must make the church a home for all people and be an open community to all people who wish to worship God. This is our new tradition that will carry us into the future.