Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers (Proverbs 22:28).

I get restless, sometimes, in the context of Christian culture.  There are so many things Christians do that don't really make sense -- traditions that we maintain, seemingly just for the sake of tradition.  The way we celebrate certain holidays, the way we observe cermonies like baptism and communion, the types of music we listen to, the types of clothes we wear, and the most basic, most subconscious taboos we keep about things like not using "the F-word" or talking openly about sex among church people.  Of course, a lot of these do have rational (albeit perhaps incomplete) reasons behind them.  Still, the fact of the matter is that our primary motivation, in any given moment, is that we do what we do "because that's how we've always done it."  And I tend to be a bit allergic to that sort of mentality.

I want faith to be fresh -- insightful, like a new discovery.  I want us to respond to God with Feeling and an eagerness of heart, not religious drudgery.  Therefore, I often find myself trying to explode and subvert traditions, just for the sake of keeping things fresh.  I deliberately play around with taboos sometimes.  I mix things up, trying to mine as much pure, emotional response to the wonders of Christian spirituality as possible.  My intentions in this are good.  But Proverbs 22:28 reminds me that it's not always wise to take such an approach to our forefathers' traditions.  In fact, it may be just plain foolish.

Instead of trying to deliberately explode or subvert Christian tradition -- moving ancient boundary stones set up by our forefathers, if you will -- maybe it's better to try to embrace it and figure out a way to cherish it in a fresh and culturally-relevant way.  If something grates against me as being overly traditionalistic and canned, maybe it's not so smart to just automatically disregard it and throw it aside -- but rather to explore the meaning behind it and polish it off again for contemporary usage.  After all, those forefathers may have had some very good reasons for establishing things the way that they did.  Who am I to think that I'm wiser than the collective wisdom of generations upon generations of other Christians who have gone before me?!?  I still think that there's a balance to be achieved, a tension to be maintained -- so that we don't just get stuck in religious ruts -- but with Proverbs 22:28 firmly in mind, I'm going to think twice about shaking things up just for the sake of messing with tradition.