"You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."
Mark 7:8
Pray-As-You-Go had an interesting question based on this reading today. What is the difference between God's commandments and human traditions? Often, our traditions have a religious origin, don't they? Some of our traditions seem more important than others and when I prayed with which ones are which, it came down to what I think God would care about more. And that pointed to love and care for others. Sometimes our religious traditions seem to just make us look good. Or pious. Or righteous. And those, to me, are much less important to God than the ones caring for others. Does God really care about us bowing and genuflecting in church, if we leave our neighbor hungry? Yes, we are honoring God by our bowing, but we are also honoring God by caring for our neighbor, where God resides just as present as in the tabernacle. It may be a fine line. Jesus really takes the Pharisees to task in today's Gospel for washing their hands and ceremoniously cleaning their dishes and possessions, while missing the spirit of God's law all together. And that is to love each other. They were clean, sure enough. But they were also exclusionary and judgmental of each other. Today, on our February Tuesday, let's pick apart the commandments and laws for ourselves. Which do we believe are most important? Which seem to us to be more important to God? Love, heidi
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