Practicing Tradition in Freedom
I haven’t written much since getting back from Israel. There are two reasons for this, I’m extremely busy working on the church and designing websites, and I needed some time to process my thoughts about the trip.
It was truly the trip of a lifetime, and one that changed me mentally and spiritually. Several times I have been asked what impacted me the most, that is the subject of this post.
Honestly, the first thing that hit was was the devotion that the Jewish people have for the scriptures and for God. Watching them pray and read scripture for hours on end made me feel lazy and really convicted me about how little effort we (American Christians) tend to put into our spiritual walk. Our guide on the tour was a Kabbalah Jew, and even though He was not a believer, he talked about the New Testament in more detail and with more enthusiasm than I have heard in a long time. His knowledge of the scriptures was astounding and convicting.
The next thing I learned, and probably my main takeaway from the trip was my realization of how little Christians know about their spiritual heritage. If we are grafted in to the tree of God’s people like Romans 11 says we are, then our spiritual heritage is traced back to the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are, in a sense, kin to the Jews, but for some reason we see fit to ignore all of their great heritage and therefore we miss some of the important nuances of the Old and New Testaments.
I am starting to think that maybe its time for Christians to relearn some of the ancient Jewish traditions that Jesus Himself practiced. Not that we need to practice them as though we are under the law, but rather that we can take these great elements of faith and choose to practice them in freedom. Just a thought.
I will write more of this later in a series that I will entitle, “Lessons From Israel.” Stay tuned.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I visited Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan and heard Phyllis Tickle deliver a teaching on ancient tradition and one of the things she said we lost in the reformation was fixed-hour prayer, a spiritual discipline that is more of a gift that a sacrifice. I think you’d resonate with the teaching if you gave it a listen. Thanks for sharing about your trip.