When we played Monopoly as kids, if you landed on “Free Parking” you got all the money in the middle of the board that had been collected in fines and taxes and whatnot.  I don’t think that’s in the official rules, but it was a serious house rule in the Morgan family.

Families have all kinds of house rules; some are pretty universally applicable:  no whining; pick up after yourself; everyone sits down together for dinner; make your bed before breakfast.  Other rules are more idiosyncratic:  birthday dinners are always by candle light; we watch the sunset from the dock at the cabin together; no food which incorporates marshmallows shall ever be allowed on a dinner table; all the kids come home to attend the Erie County Fair (or Corn Festival) every year.  You get the picture.

I’m glad I wasn’t born into the Rechabite family.  The family rules for the Rechabites were laid down by their ancestor Jonadab.  They couldn’t drink wine, or live in a house, or plant a field, or own a vineyard.  The family rule was that they would be Nomadic, tent-dwelling shepherds.  Even when decanters of a very nice Pinot Noir were laid out before them they wouldn’t touch a drop.  They were committed to being nomads; they were the only folks in ancient Israel who never watched House Hunters on HGTV.

Jeremiah marveled at their fidelity to their family rules (he appreciated a nice Pinot Noir himself when he wasn’t being thrown into cisterns by angry mobs).  But he bemoaned the failure of the people of Israel to live by the house rules that God had established for the people of Israel.  (You can read the whole story in Jeremiah, chapter 35.)

It’s amazing how we will faithfully adhere to our traditions and house rules.  We do it because we love our families and because we are proud to belong to our families.  Their peculiarities and quirks are part of what we love about them.

We belong to a bigger family – the family of God.  Love of God and love of neighbor are the house rules that mark us as part of the family of God.

Prayer:  Holy God, we are your people.  Grant that our compassion and our kindness might always identify us as members of your family.  Amen.