Tassels

I could be wrong, so I'll write confidently, but I was intrigued by the concept of the tassel as described in Numbers 15:37-40 and what they were to accomplish. I'm pretty sure the tassels are the four threads hanging off the shawl, and as the verses tell us, they serve as reminders to follow the law.

The Catholic Church uses a similar device with the rosary, which, when done correctly, is a fairly thorough run-through of what we believe as Christians. The rosary article at Wikipedia gives a very complete description, which I'll summarize. On second thought, just go to the article if you're interested and read the Rosary Beads section, since my head just started spinning from the complexity of the prayers. However, if the rosary is done correctly (and I'm having a real hard time seeing how it can be completed in less than an hour), it covers the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer and up to 20 significant milestones in Christ's life. It would seem to me that if the proper attention is paid, one would receive an excellent education into Christianity. (As an aside, I kept using the word "you" in the past couple of sentences, i.e., as in "...if you do the rosary correctly"--I'm guessing my three readers won't be doing that soon...)

We Lutherans could probably use a tassel of our own, and many of us probably do in one way or another, be it a cross, a favorite Bible we read from daily, a treasured devotion book or some other touchstone that makes us stop and consider what God has done for us. That's all the tassel was to accomplish--be a quick and constant reminder of the obligations of the people of Israel to be obedient in the law. Whatever we pick for our modern-day tassel, it should do the same thing--remind us of our salvation through Christ.

Scott