This Sunday’s reading includes (for those of us on Track 1) a reading from Exodus 12:1-14 that includes what my friend Rev. Elizabeth Molitors calls, “The Lamb Recipe.” This is the foundational story for the wonderful Seder meal that is part of Passover in the homes of observant Jewish people all around the world and for millenia.
In Chicago I attended countless Seder dinners in the homes of Jewish friends and the modern world has made its way into them inevitably. I have had absolutely mouth wearing gluten free noodle kuegel and attended seders where the table groaned with vegan and nut free options.
But once we sit down to the meal, the first thing we do (after thanking Adonai) is re-tell the story of the Exodus. Because this meal, this evening, this tradition is informed by a narrative that, though thousands of years old, is still important, informative and enriching. We would lose so much if we ever forgot this story.
There is another cooking story that makes the opposite point. It is the one about the newly wed couple at dinner where one spouse prepared a ham. He cut off the ends of the ham before he cooked it. His spouse said, “Why do you cut off the ends of the ham?” He said, “Because my mom did.” So, he calls his mom and asks why she did and she says, “Because my father did,” so he calls up his grandfather and asks why he cut off the ends of the ham. His grandfather answers, “Because our pan was so small, we could not fit a whole ham.”
This is an example of a long standing tradition that, under scrutiny, does not contribute to the good of the whole experience, it does not enrich or inform… but actually wastes quite a bit of ham over time.
This is how we move into this new season of our Diocese and our church. We ask ourselves, what are our foundational stories? How do they point to our core values? Do the traditions and practices that have served us for years, still resonate with who we are now. Every time we encounter an inheritance we ask, does it still make sense, like the story of the Holy One liberating the enslaved? Or is it wasting ham?
I invite you to pray the collect for this Sunday as you discern…
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts …
