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 Out
west, near Kingman, Ariz., time has preserved a segment of the
old Santa Fe trail — ruts from wagon wheels, and pits where
horses placed their hoofs, as they made a path over a rocky
saddle. These ruts are cut in solid rock, evidence that this
particular path was used over and over. We suppose there came a
time when drivers followed the route because others had done so,
with little thought that a better way might be found.
And
the same is true with reference to our methods for doing things
in the worship and work of the church. (1 refer to true
expedients — things having generic authority, but for which
there is no single means specified.) There is authority to sing,
to teach and admonish in song, (Col. 3:16; 1 Cor. 14:15). There
is authority to “invite” (Rev. 22:17). But there is no
specific demand that we have preaching, then stand and sing an
invitation song” so people can walk down the aisle, confess
their faith in the Lord, and be baptized.
But
is it wrong to do it this way? As already stated, such
comes within divine authority — it is NOT wrong — it is
right. Nor is it too surprising that the other circumstances of
a public preaching service should lead someone to adopt such a
plan, and that others should follow the “rut.”
It
is not wrong to follow a rut. Sometimes
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we become so averse to
ruts that we would send each wagon helter-skelter over the
terrain, each to cut its own way, rather than’ allow a path to
be followed which would give the driver something to contemplate
other than inventing new arrangements. But our story is not
finished.
If
the early Santa Fe drivers had allowed the “ruts” to become
“rules” — so that future drivers were forbidden to seek
new paths — the more direct and better grade of today’s
Santa Fe trail would never have been found. And in worship a far
more vital aspect must be considered. When we follow “ruts”
in worship, we tend to slog along, content with the form, and
forgetting the real reason for coming this way in the first
place. Soon, our “rut” becomes a “rule” that we regard
as though it were divine.
It
is not the “rut” that is wrong; it is our party spirit and
love for our own traditions that blinds us to the human source
of the “rules” we impose. It is our unwillingness to “prove
all things” by God’s word and refuse to bind anything but
that which God has bound — to loose anything but that which
God has loosed.
RUTS
FOR RULES MAKE SECTARIANS!
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