God's Word for today

Thursday 26 February 2009

Throwing the babies out with the bathwater

One of the things I'm beginning to discover this year, is that there is SO much that we can learn from other traditions.

It seems that as Protestant Christians, for example, we have gone so far to try and reject anything Roman Catholic that we've somewhat lost so much of their rich expressions of spirituality. Practices such as meditation, centering prayer, periods of silence, etc. which come from the Catholic tradition (and, in fact, reflect the example of our Lord Jesus Christ's prayer life) can greatly enrich our own spiritual walk with God.

The danger, of course, is that in our quest to rediscover the original "baby" that was thrown out originally, we end up throwing out the "new baby" of our own traditions and spirituality in the process. That would be a tragedy, since there is so much in our own tradition (e.g. Wesley's "Four All's", our call to service, and let's not forget the rich vault of hymns from the likes of Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and many others) that can still build up our faith today.

Lord God, I thank You that a perfect and holy God chooses to reveal Yourself to imperfect and unholy human beings such as me. As You reveal Yourself to me in so many different ways, help me to keep a balance, remembering that the yardstick must be "is it of You, will it help me draw closer to You, will it help me become a better witness for You", and not the tradition from which a particular practice may hail.

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