There is a story about a young, newly ordained priest who went to serve his first church. He noticed that on the first Sunday, when he said the prayers, the congregation on the left side of the church stood at the beginning of the prayers, and the congregation on the right side remained seated. The young priest thought this was a bit odd, but he kept going in the prayers—until he began to hear some murmuring between the two sides, then the murmuring turned into grumbling and then people yelling at each other, each side proclaiming that THEY were doing the right thing when it came to the tradition of the church.
Distressed by what he had seen and all that was taking place, the young priest went to seek the council of the former, now elderly priest, who had served this congregation for years. He asked him, "So is it the tradition of the congregation to stand during the prayers?"
The older priest, whose memory was now failing, stroked his beard, replied, "No, that is not the tradition, as I recall."
"So, the tradition is that they remain seated during the prayers?"
To which the old priest responded, "No, that's not the tradition either."
The young priest threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and said, "There must be some solution to this! The way things are now, half stand and half sit and all end up screaming at one another during the prayers."
The old priest's face lit up in a smile; he lifted his finger high into the air and said, "Ahh, yes! Now I remember—that was the tradition!"
