Hand me Downs
Now I have in my diary around this time each year a reminder. And it reminds me to go to the children’s rooms and sort out the school uniforms for the start of the term. Now, what happens in the summer, I really don’t know, but very often, shoes won’t fit, legs are 4 inches longer, and shirts, if they hadn’t had holes in, when they’re tried to see if they still fit, soon gain them!
There follows a process of hand me downs. John, the eldest’s items become Paul's (those that we can salvage), Paul's items becomes Edwin's, and if we are extraordinary lucky, occasionally something might survive long enough to be handed down to Christopher.
But it’s not just school clothes we hand on. We all hand things on. Heirlooms, items that have travelled with a family, often with story attached, are often handed on. Silverware, lockets, photo’s, teddy bears, there are many different kinds of heirlooms that we hand down when the time is right and new chapters of their story begin to be written.
Today we are going to hear a story from the bible about something else that was precious that needed handing down. It’s an Old Testament story, so it’s got odd names in it. We’re going to our best to say those names, but regardless of how we pronounce them, look to see if you can find how valuable the act of handing something down is.
Read 2 Kings 22.3-13 and following
The book of the law, that’s the big chunky first 5 books in our bible, was found in the ruins of the temple.
In a way the ruined temple is like a symbol of what can happen when we aren’t able to hand down the valuable knowledge of our predecessors.
There are some things that we wouldn’t want to hand down, such as when left handed people were punished for writing with the wrong hand for example. We definitely don’t need that! So there is a need to be alert to passing on bad things as much as good, but if we think about the good things that should be passed down we might become aware of how the lack of passing on knowledge affects us.
Things such as the knowledge of the reality of war and its affect on us, that would, if we remembered it right, alter some of the conversations we hear amongst us about conflicts happening in the world today. And then simpler things such as: how to preserve fruits picked along the hedgerows at this time of year, or how to mend a hole in a garment; things that my grandparents knew how to do, but I am ashamed to say, I was never taught.
What happens when a good tradition is left untaught is a part of what we belong to falls into disrepair. Symbolically somewhere inside a stone falls from a rotting wall that leaves us something less than we were before.
I admit this is a limited analogy, because for every good tradition we should hold on to, there is definitely a bad one we ought to drop. Human society isn’t the complete analog for our story today.
But think about what it is to have been handed on the goodness of knowing the one who made you. Not the law book, that’s symbolic too. Think of the many people who have lost on a sense of relationship with one who made them. Who have never heard the whispered words in their heart: ‘I love what you are’. And ponder for a while, what difference that could make to our society.
(Names have been changed for privacy)