By Martha Bush

Let's talk about traditions today - the transmission of customs or beliefs passed on from generation to generation. (Oxford Online Dictionary.)

 Traditions show up in our family, culture, and church. See if you can relate.

Family: A young couple got married. When the bride was about to cook her first meal, the groom watched as she cut the tip end off the roast before putting it in the pan to bake. Curious, he asked, “Why did you cut the tip off the roast?”  “I don’t know; that’s the way Mama did it,” his bride responded. The groom went to his mother-in-law with the same question. She answered, “I don’t know; that’s the way Mama did it.” The inquisitive groom then went to Grandma. Grandma answered, “You don’t have to cut the tip off the roast before baking it. I cut the tip off because my pan was too small for it to fit into.” 

Culture: Having lived in New Orleans, I learned to expect a few weeks out of the year to be devoted to partying and parades when Mardi Gras season kicked off - a tradition for hundreds of years that residents would not consider changing.

Church: Want to hear some church gossip? “Did you know the hymnals have been taken out and replaced with loud rock music? Worship sounds like it's coming from the bar down the street. Even the altars like Grandma’s church used to have are gone. Would you believe that the preacher wears jeans in the pulpit? It’s a shame and disgrace!”

While family and cultural traditions certainly have their influence in our lives, both positively and negatively, what I want to concentrate on today is------

Traditions in The Church.
A doctrine believed to have divine authority, though not in the scriptures.
(Oxford Online Dictionary)

 The arrival of the year 2020----one of the biggest movements of long-held church traditions all over the world came about during the Pandemic. It flipped our church world upside down. Ministers scampered to find ways to continue feeding the flock when the church doors were ordered closed by the government. Parishioners had to break from dressing in their Sunday best to attend church and embrace a new world of technology - many still in their jammies.

Leaving politics out of the picture, the reality of the matter is this: “If we want to be an instrument Jesus uses for His power to flow through, we have to find out where the Spirit of God is moving and move in that direction, regardless of what is going on in the world around us.

The season we have been in the past two years reminds me of a sermon a former pastor of mine preached entitled, The Moving of the Spirit of God. Using the story of the Israelites, he outlined instructions God gave Moses to give them for their journey after leaving Egypt.

It goes like this:

The Israelites were not to make a move until the cloud moved. In this way, they journeyed at the command of the Lord and stopped where He told them to. Sometimes, they would stay in a place two days, a month, or a year. When it was time for the cloud to move, they would be alerted by the trumpets. (Numbers 9:15-23)

The trumpet was also used for a charge of war when they went to war with their enemies. Moses told them God would hear their cry and save them from their enemies when they sounded the alarm with the trumpets. "Rise up, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered."  (Numbers 10:35)

 What does this Old Testament story have to do with us today?  

•  “If we are going to see a move of God, we’ve got to have a listening ear, and sense where The Spirit of God is moving and move with it in that direction.
• That’s a difficult thing because most of us are rather comfortable in our religious rut and routine. Only a spiritual  renewal will get us out.
• Renewal is when everything you once knew is no longer the same. You’re no longer happy just singing a couple of songs; you now want to worship Him. You’re not happy anymore until you get into the word, not because of fear and duty, but because you want to experience a freshness of God in your life. 

In order to have this, we have to get rid of traditions and denominationalism.

We have to be open to what God is saying in this season in the church,

as well as individually and move with Him."

(David Berkheimer)

  ***** 

Are you ready to sound the trumpet, Warriors, and move out where God wants to take us in this season? 

Your thoughts?