Cled E. Wallace
New customs have a peculiar way of creeping into the general practice of the churches. At the beginning they are usually viewed with some alarm, often create some confusion but finally become so deeply rooted by repeated observance that it would require a major effort to dig them up. These customs may be good, harmless if somewhat foolish, and some have appealed to the fancy of some brethren which are downright pernicious.
About the time I began preaching plenty of years ago, I ran into the tail-end of a controversy over the right hand of fellowship. The practice had taken such a hold in general practice that many did not consider a man a member of the church until he had been extended the right hand of fellowship. The formal custom has been long since dropped and apparently with good reason.
In some sections it was long the custom for contributors to walk up and lay their money on the table, the Lord’s money was placed on “the Lord’s table.” The change from this to waiting on the audience with baskets sent temperatures soaring and inspired a multitude of words. The passing out of the old custom was accompanied by many a heated argument. I have even seen an incorrigible stalk up to the table and lay his money down after the rest of the audience was waited on. It is easy for a mere custom to assume the place of divine law in the minds of those accustomed to it. Practice is not always accompanied by thinking of a desirable acquaintance with the teaching of the scriptures.
Some new customs in the field of incidentals contribute to decency and order and the convenience of large groups of worshippers. Sometimes one creeps in I am unable to see any good reason for, even if I do not feel justified in crying out against it. Giving thanks for the communion of the body and blood of the Lord at the Lord’s Table is universally recognized as right in view of some plain scriptural references. But I had been preaching a good many years before I ever saw anybody duck his head and say a prayer into a contribution basket. Somebody started it recently, possibly the idea of stimulating the contribution spirit, it caught the fancy of the brethren, some of them, and it now occupies as fixed a place in worship as giving thanks for the bread. I have more than once observed some shocked expressions when I handed out the baskets or contribution plates without praying over them. They thought I had forgotten something. It is just a recent custom with little, and I think nothing to commend it. A few well-placed remarks on the duty of liberality, would be much more appropriate at that particular time. There is a time for prayer and thanksgiving and there is a time for admonition.
