traditions, commands, and the nazis

Sometimes I read scripture and wonder about others. I wonder if some "Christians" have ever really read and applied the word at all. Sometimes I read scripture and wonder about the Western Church. I wonder if anyone except me sees any similarity in the Pharisees of Jesus' time and some of our Western Churches and Church Leaders today. Then there are times like today when I read scripture and wonder if I've ever really read it and applied it or if I am like the Pharisees.

There's a portion of scripture in Mark 7 that has lit me up today. One of those punches in the gut that you get from the Father just when you think you are beginning to understand things and live accordingly. I love these punches, because it's a form of discipline from Him. His punches and discipline just prove to me that He has love for me. (one of my favorite scriptures says "the Father disciplines those that He loves"). My punch today dealt with the commands of the Father vs. the traditions of men. It was an interesting and thought-provoking little jab that the Lord hit me with. If you are interested in getting a gut-shot as well check it out in Mark 7:1-9.

I should have seen this punch coming. He has been baiting me into a corner over the last couple of days so that he could deliver this shot. Kind of like a holy rope-a-dope move, he's good at these. He's been positioning me just right to land this punch that is showing me my own traditions sometimes get in the way of fulfilling His commandments. One of the ways He positioned me was by having me watch an older movie. Now if you know me you know how big of a deal that is for me. I very seldom ever watch movies. But the Lord spoke to me and told me to watch Schindler's List the other night. I have to confess I'd never seen it before.

What really primed my pump about this true story and about this era in Germany and Poland in general is the fact that there were Christians alive and actively assembling together during that time there (notice I stopped short of saying actively worshiping). They were actively having church in the middle of one of the largest mass killings of the innocent. They were adhering to their traditions, their normal routine of their version of Christianity. But adhering to traditions only doesn't do us a thing, when in the midst of all the adhering we are neglecting His commandments (refer again Mark 7).

The one thing that has stuck with me the most, and then I will stop this rant, is a story I once heard about one particular church in Germany/Poland at that time. It was a church that just happened to be positioned right in front of some railroad tracks. During this time in history, Hitler would use the railways and the train systems to transport hundreds of thousands of Jews to Auschwitz, which was the ultimate place of their slaughter. He would literally have the Nazi soldiers cram as many Jews in boxcars as possible and then transport them via the rail to the place of their death. A horrific scene, a dark time in the history of God's chosen children. In the middle of all this activity and right in front of one of the major train tracks stood this church. It is said that when the trains went passed you could hear not only the train, but the cries of all the people that were inside the boxcars. Adhering to their traditions, the story goes that the German Christians continued to hold church services and that in fact whenever they were in service and they began to hear the train come by they would simply "sing louder" so as to drowned out the cries of the innocent.

My heart breaks Lord for a people so caught in tradition that they would neglect your commands. It forces an inward look into myself. Am I simply "singing louder" in my daily life when I hear or see the train of injustice go by in front of me. What are our churches doing, do we stay in the four walls and crank up the music. Do we adhere to our traditions and all the while neglect your commands. Father forgive us, oh Father forgive me.