Tradition

Tradition. That word itself might remind us of “The Fiddler on the Roof.” There are traditions that might hold back progress and there are traditions that anchor us to things of the past that give stability to the present. There are family traditions that are outdated and there are those that are precious memories. There are church traditions that impede any innovation (“We’ve never done it that way before.”) and there are traditions that ground us to the historical and theological framework of the very foundations of the Church. Just how important are traditions?

I would submit that the “right” traditions are very important. Some, in the interest of being relevant, tend to ignore things of the past and replacing them with new things. The way we do church has dramatically changed in 50+ years. Some changes have been good and necessary. Integrating new music styles, casual dress, and up to date programming were inevitable. But I do wonder if we have lost something in the process. 

Perhaps the most noticeable things for me are the loss of singing the deep theological truths of the hymns of the past; the lack of knowledge of the Apostle’s Creed, the Ten Commandments, and even the Lord’s Prayer by the current generations of the “Church.” All of which help to keep us grounded in the faith.

We lose when we think we need to dismantle the past in order to be effective today. You might cringe at considering the following to be traditions, but technically it’s what they are, and they are foundational to the function of the church today: Communion, disciple-making, baptism, assembling together, encouraging one another with songs and spiritual songs, bearing one another’s burdens, etc. are traditional elements, none of which have become outdated.

Tradition! Let’s discern what needs to go, and the value of what should be kept.