Bible Text:

:  “I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God?”                                                                                (Psalm 77:11-13)  

Who tells the family traditions in your household? Who is responsible to tell the same time-tested stories, over and over again? Who shares them and passes them down to the next generation? 

Elaine and I have a couple of stories in our lives. I like to tell about the time she tried to make homemade chili from scratch. She bought a bag of kidney beans to put in the chili, but forgot that they had to be soaked overnight before they’re used. The beans in the chili were something like rocks. Over the years we have had a consistent expression our house that goes something like this: "Tough beans!” 

But she has one on me, too. The first time I ever ordered quiche from a menu I ordered “Quickie Lorraine.” 

My sister had some recent dialogue with my mother about her childhood memories. She put some old pictures and the story together in a little scrapbook which I now consider more valuable than I might have otherwise. On my father’s side a distant relative put together a large book of family history dating back to Germany in the 15^th century. 

We all have a sacred journey to unfold. Frederick Buechner writes, “The story that each of us has to tell is the story of a sacred journey… There is no place where God speaks more eloquently to us than through what happens to us, and therefore our stories are sacred stories.” 

Who is the tradition bearer in your household? I had the privilege of seeing the Upper St. Clair spring musical this past Friday evening. They presented an exceptionally well done version of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Of course the first song in that musical play is a song entitled simply, “Tradition.” 

Our family here has a tradition as well. We call it the Judeo-Christian tradition. The stories of our forebears whose lives touch ours in a mysterious way are recounted here, over and over. Someone has written, “God creates the world, the world gets lost, and for the rest of time God tries to restore the lost world to Himself. That is the story of Israel, and it is also the story of you and me.” 

We should know our story. Or at least we should know a large part of it. Human beings began writing stories about 1000 BC. Before that it was all oral tradition. They committed it to memory. They learned the story and they remembered the story. 

Near Marietta, Georgia are the Kennesaw Mountains and the Kennesaw Mountain battlefield. It is now a national park at the site of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, which was a major part of the Battle of Atlanta in the Civil War. 

Annually there is a group—mostly men—who reenact scenes in particular battles from the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. They have authentic uniforms and equipment. There are lots of them. They are organized into the proper formations of regiments and companies. They fire cannons and carry out the same maneuvers that were executed more than 100 years ago. 

It may be of some value. It carries on a tradition and preserves a memory. The battle, of course, is perfectly predictable. Each battle is always the same. The outcome of the story is already known. The victor must be victorious, and the vanquished must lose. We reenact it to tell the story—to remember it and to teach it to others so that they can have the same tradition. 

Someone has said that the Christian faith is something like this. It is a sort of reenactment of ancient battles. The lessons are already set. We, the grownups, always know the outcome. We know the end of the story.[i] 

I read so much today about how we are losing track of our Story. A huge number of young adults under the age of 35 seem to have no Christian memory. And the number is apparently growing. 

A little girl came to her mother and said, “Mama, you know that vase which you told us has been passed down from generation to generation?” The mother acknowledged that she did know the vase. Continued the child, “This generation just dropped it.” 

I came across a very strong statement in “Homiletics” magazine. This may be a little extreme, but it illustrates the point. 

…When it comes to a knowledge of our stories, the current generation, as well as the one that preceded it, is dumber than a sack of hammers. We may have the air of serious students of the Bible, but as they say in Texas about cowboy wannabes: “Big hat, no cattle.”[ii]

As I say, that’s a little extreme. But it makes an important point. 

Jay Leno went into his Tonight Show audience one night. He asked who could name one of the Ten Commandments. There was a period of silence, and then finally someone said, “God helps those who help themselves.” Then he asked if anybody could name one of the original apostles of Jesus. There was no answer. He asked if anybody could name the Beatles, and instantly there was a response: “George, Paul, John and Ringo.” 

A ten-year-old, under the tutelage of her very religious grandmother, became quite knowledgeable of the Bible. Then one day she floored her grandmother with this question: “Grandma, which virgin was the mother of Jesus? Was it the Virgin Mary or the King James Virgin?” 

I’m talking about basic stuff here, not all the details. Pittsburgh Theological Seminary requires of its graduates something called a “Bible content exam.” It is very comprehensive. I have seen the test and I am not sure that I could do real well on it at times. It is given in the belief that graduating seminary students should know the content of the Bible. 

What about you? Do you know the creation narratives of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel? Do you know the story of Noah? (A recent survey pointed that at least 20% of all people asked, believed that Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc.” Do you know the stories of Moses? I keep trying to get a book published of these stories—not so much for the royalties, but to get the story out. The writer of Exodus was an excellent storyteller. He was highly skilled. Do you know the stories of Moses? 

Do you know the stories of Jesus? Not the folklore, but the real story? In so many places I read and hear about the decline of Biblical literacy. George Barna writes, “Fewer and fewer people have any clue what the Scripture really teaches—as opposed to what they feel it should teach.”[iii] 

Let me use the current “Passion” movie as an example. I saw it on the Friday after it first came out—the Friday after Ash Wednesday. 

I agree with Chris Whitehead that the Garden of Gethsemane scene was very real and seemed totally consistent with what I know of the story of the Scriptures. Jesus went through a time of agony, wishing that he did not have to die. Then he surrendered to the will of God. When he emerged from the prayer time, he was soaking wet from perspiration. That seems to me to be pretty descriptive of the picture that I have in my mind as I read the stories of the prayers of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

But what about the whipping scenes? The movie is two hours and five minutes in length. Fully 25% of it is spent in the beating of Jesus. I was told to read the Passion stories before I went, and then see the movie. I did just the opposite; I saw the movie and then read the stories. 

I read the stories in John. It says in John’s gospel that Pilate ordered Jesus whipped, then the soldiers placed a crown of thorns on his head and a purple robe on his back, and spit on him. Then Pilate took him back out to the crowd. The crowd continued to insist that Jesus be crucified. The gospel writer says, “Pilate caved in to their demand. He turned him over to be crucified.” (See John 19 in “The Message.”) Other gospels simply say, “Pilate ordered Jesus whipped and then taken out to be crucified.” 

The brutality pictured in the movie might have been there. But it is not defined in the Biblical narrative. I am in no way demeaning the suffering that Jesus endured for us on the cross. I am not denying the great love he had for us and has for us. 

But does the movie teach Scripture? Or does the movie present what Mel Gibson wants to believe happened? Is it necessary to beat and slash and rip the human body of Jesus to a pulp in order for Jesus to be my Savior? I don’t think so. 

We need to know our stories. But we need not be influenced by images. 

We need to elevate our familiarity with the story. This is why Martin Luther put the Bible back into the hands of the common people. This is why we tell the stories over and over again to children in Sunday School. We repeat them several times in the early childhood and elementary years. This is why we invite you to read along in the Scriptures with us in worship. This is why we pass out Bibles to the third graders every year. This is why we have an open Bible in the center of our worship every Sunday. This is why we will encourage you to participate in Disciple Bible Study again this coming September. This is why we read and listen to Scripture in our CBS groups. If there is no desire to really “study” the Bible, we should at least read it and share what it seems to be saying to us. 

Use every means you can to get in touch with the Great Tradition. 

Our mission is to form Christian disciples, not Bible scholars. I’m not asking you to be thoroughly familiar with everything in the Bible. But we need to know our tradition. Otherwise we are easily convinced of some things that are not there. 

And it won’t be just the children who make the humorous mistakes. One adult reported that when Mary heard that she was to be the mother of Jesus, she went off and sang the Magna Carta. Another said that he thought a republican was a sinner first mentioned in the Bible. 

Listen to this statement: “Tell the unrivaled story of God in language contemporary culture can relate to and absorb, while embracing the heritage of faith, which has anchored believers through all generations.” 

That’s what we need to be about.  

This is precisely why fresh translations and paraphrases have been published through the years. One of the first paraphrases for me was the one by J. B. Phillips. It is still in common usage and still a great rendering. Then came the Good News Bible. Next came the Living Bible. Today it is “The Message,” as paraphrased by Eugene Peterson. 

I am reading a classical devotional book right now in my daily devotional time. It is a book by Oswald Chambers called My Utmost for His Highest. Chambers died in Egypt in 1917 during World War I. The family put the book together after his death. 

A few years ago, someone re-wrote Chambers’ book in contemporary language. Instead of the language of 1917, it was the language of 2004. In that format, the reading is very helpful to me. Ironically, however, all the Scripture references are still in the King James Version. So what I do is go to “The Message” to clarify and to meditate upon the Scripture passages. 

If you long to be a more mature believer, if you long to know the stories of Abraham and Moses and Jesus, if you want to have the richness of your faith heritage rejuvenated in your soul, start now. Start anywhere. I suggest you start by reading the Gospels. And in particular, I suggest you read the Gospel of Mark. Then perhaps Luke’s gospel, because Luke has some of the most wonderful parables that Jesus told. Then go to the Book of Exodus. Read the story of Exodus, the stories of Moses. Then maybe go and read Genesis, especially the first 12 chapters. Get the tradition in front of you. Read, enjoy, and celebrate the tradition that defines your history. 

Remember! The Tradition, our Tradition, our Faith Tradition. It is still the greatest story humanity has ever known.