No doubt many of you have heard the story about the pot roast. A young daughter is learning from her mother how to make a pot roast. “First, we cut off the ends of the roast before putting it in the pan,” the mother explains.

“Why do we do that?” asks the daughter.

“Well, that’s just the way I was taught,” says the mother. “I think it has something to do with cooking the meat more evenly.”

But the question sparks her curiosity, and so later she calls her own mother to inquire about why the ends of a pot roast need to be removed before cooking it. Her mother has no idea, but thinks that perhaps Aunt Mabel might know. Aunt Mabel tells her that she had always been taught that it was because the ends of a roast are mostly fat. But she isn’t sure, and suggests contacting Grandma Peggy.

Thankfully, Grandma Peggy has the answer. It had nothing to do with the fat on the roast, or cooking the meat more evenly. The problem was that the family only had one roasting pan, and the reason you cut off the ends was so that the meat would fit properly in the pan. And thus began a tradition that had been handed down from one generation to the next.

“We’ve always done it that way” is a refrain sung in many congregations. Most of us have fairly strong opinions about everything from how we should worship to how we should do evangelism. Of course, the challenge is that we are ministering in a changing world, and what speaks to one generation may not communicate as effectively to the next.

That is not to say that the church must immediately jettison all of its beloved traditions. Nor is it to suggest that we start changing things just for the sake of change. Obviously, there is great value in passing on our cherished beliefs and practices to the next generation.

But if we are doing things only because “we’ve always done it that way before,” we may run the risk of continuing to cut off the ends of a roast, so that it will fit a pan that the family no longer even owns!