When I was growing up in the rural south, there were some unusual guidelines about the Sabbath day that I was expected to follow. For example, on many Sundays, my mom’s family would gather at my grandparent’s house. My grandfather said it was inappropriate to shoot fireworks on Sunday, which was very disappointing for my cousins, siblings and I. We thought nothing was more fun than firing bottle rockets … at each other. My parents taught that we were not to do any work on Sunday. However, it was okay to go shopping or out to eat, causing others to work. I guess if those sinners were going to be at work, we ought to give them something to do. I’ve heard similar stories from other people, with many variations. Some of my friends were not allowed to wear shorts on Sunday. Others had to help prepare all of Sunday dinner on Saturday night, so that it only had to be heated up. I even knew some who could do nothing but sit quietly at home once church was over. I know such traditions are not limited to the south. Many ideas about what is appropriate and what is not have arisen around the Sabbath day.

The same was true during the time of Jesus. Because God rested after 6 days of creating as we read in Genesis; because God called the people, through the 10 commandments, to keep the Sabbath Day holy and to rest; many traditions developed providing guidelines about what could and could not be done. The Jewish people were to do no work on the Sabbath, and the same was true for their slaves and their animals. However, it was acceptable to feed and water their livestock.

The concept of not working applied to the work of healing as well. The tradition developed that those who were in healing professions not to work on the Sabbath day. This is what Jesus encounters in the synagogue in today’s gospel text (Luke 13:10-17). He is teaching and he sees a woman who has, for 18 years, been bent over and unable to stand up straight. He calls her forward, lays his hands on her, and heals her. The leader of synagogue is indignant. He reminds the crowds there are 6 days to work and to be healed and insists they not do so on the Sabbath day. One might say the traditions were impeding and preventing ministry.

Jesus himself points this out with strong words. He says that it is okay to untie an animal on the Sabbath and give it what it needs, yet the people are insisting that this woman, bound by illness, should not be given what she needs. Were the people who said the healing was wrong implying that the woman was less important than livestock? Perhaps; but more importantly, they were letting traditions cloud their minds and control them. They were using traditions to try and prevent the vital, needed ministry of restoration from happening. Through his words and actions, Jesus doesn’t just straighten up the woman. He also straightens out those opposing him, calls into light their hypocrisy, and reminds them of God’s call to do good work in this world.

God’s call to do good, to do ministry, is for you and me as well. Yet I wonder how often we, too, are distracted by traditions? All of us wrap meaning, and sometimes deep, personal meaning, around various events. We begin to see events that happen for a number of years as beloved traditions, and we cling to those, insisting that they always be present.

It happens in the church as well. Some ministry or event begins, or even a pattern of worship starts, and we grow attached. Then, when that program, activity, or style of worship begins to change or goes away, we get “bent out of shape”. It doesn’t matter if the tradition to which we are attached no longer works or impedes ministry. We continue to loudly insist that it must happen and devote our time and resources to it, while failing to hear God’s call to use that time and those resources for vital ministry.

There is a church I know of in South Carolina that insists every year on hosting a lavish homecoming dinner, Mother/Daughter banquet and other traditional gatherings that are only for their members. They devote increased amounts of time and money to these things, while at the same time insisting that they cannot do outreach in the community. They refuse to welcome the children of migrant workers to Vacation Bible School because it would cost more to have extra kids there and they won’t help with Habitat for Humanity builds, because they don’t approve of using their funds to help what they call “those poor people”. When any pastor who has served that parish challenges them to end annual events and instead do outreach, they get bent out of shape.

Bent out of shape. The very phrase calls to mind the woman in today’s text, but also those who were indignant that Jesus was healing on the Sabbath. We begin to see that, at times, our insistence that something continue, because we’ve always done it that way, can interfere with and impede ministry. I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Does Pastor Todd think there is a tradition here that shouldn’t happen any longer?”

The honest answer is “no, nothing in particular”. However, as we continue to move forward as a congregation, as we look at new ways to grow, to share the good news, and to be a vibrant presence in our community; I think there are questions we need to ask. Such questions might be, “What traditions and what pieces no longer work for Trinity? How does clinging to those traditions impede ministry? Where am I bent out of shape and in need of God’s help with healing and letting go?”

For indeed, the promise we cling to is that God straightens us out, and particularly does so in this place. God speaks a word of forgiveness when we get caught up in traditions and not ministry. God feeds us with the body and blood, nourishing us for work in the world. God speaks to us through Scripture, hymns, and words of worship, reminding us that traditions are not what define us. What defines us is that we are children of God, whom God claimed in waters of baptism; who God sends to do ministry in this world. Indeed, is through these ways that God meets us and bends us back into shape. It is through these gifts that God straightens us out and helps us to stand tall. God does this so that together, as sisters and brothers in Christ, we might proclaim the good news, do the work God calls us to do, and praise God and rejoice like the woman and the crowds in today’s gospel.

                                                                                   Amen.