Customs

My wife ordered enchiladas with sour cream sauce, Mexican mashed potatoes, and Mexican corn (in a white cream sauce). Everything was white, including the plate. Our youth minister Josh saw her plate and remarked, “You know, you can’t order that after Labor Day.”

Customs are interesting, aren’t they? White shoes on August 30 are fine, but not on September 4. The bride’s family arranges the wedding, and the groom’s family provides for the rehearsal. Men remove their hats when a prayer is being offered.

Laban justified his trickery by claiming that it was against custom to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older. John and Mark remarked that customarily a prisoner was released around time of the Feast. Mary and Joseph took their infant Jesus to be consecrated before the Lord because that is what the “custom of the Law” required.

Sometimes customs are cultural. They may stick around for a long time, that’s what makes them customs, but they are subject to change with time and location; and if they change, that’s fine. Other customs have their roots in Scripture, and if they change, that’s not fine. Men and women marry when they seek lifelong companionship. Adult children take care of their aging parents. Believers in Jesus are immersed for the forgiveness of sins. Followers of Jesus pray for those who persecute them. To live, you work instead of steal. Some customs are not supposed to change. That’s Life at Work!