Thoughts which draw me to Jesus, and to the Cross

“The first time you did not carry it; that is why the LORD God attacked us, because we did not ask him about the proper way to carry it.”The priests and Levites consecrated themselves so they could bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. The descendants of Levi carried the ark of God on their shoulders with poles, just as Moses had ordered according to the divine command. David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their relatives as musicians; they were to play various instruments, including stringed instruments and cymbals, and to sing loudly and joyfully.” (1 Chronicles 15:13–16, NET)

“Tell the nations about his splendor, tell all the nations about his miraculous deeds! For the LORD is great and certainly worthy of praise, he is more awesome than all gods.” (1 Chronicles 16:24–25, NET)

Ratzinger observes that in the reception of revelation, the reality of the Christ-event becomes our own through faith. If we accept him, we accept his revelation. As the faithful are parts of the Mystical Body of Christ, Christ lives among them, continuously revealing God the Father through the continuous guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Many, many have failed to note Peter’s Pentecostal emphasis: the important thing in God’s plan was the fact that Jesus had been exalted in heaven

Everyone and every church has traditions that are not to be treaded upon, things that have been elevated to being “divine” or nearly so.

The obvious ones are those attached to a liturgy done in Latin (or German) or in a specific hymnal. Very similarly are those who elevate one Bible translation above all others, such as those who say everything but the King James is demonic in origin.  But traditions don’t have to be centuries old, or even decades old. Churches and their people can be just as deadlocked in modern traditions, stating with “certainty” that their practices are the reason for their success and all other ideas are inferior. You have to use this program or that, you have to use music from these sources not those, if you only follow our ways, you will grow and be holier and…. make no mistake – that is traditionalism.

So my reaction to traditionalism may surprise you….

I don’t care about what you traditions are, except for two things, on lesser than the other. I urge you, in fact, to bury yourself deep in them , to understand them, to get the most of them in regards to the greater thing

So the lesser thing is simple – don’t force your traditions on others, either directly or with nuanced reasoning that if only they follow your traditions, they will be holier, they will grow, and they will be better people. Your traditionalism isn’t really right, and if you are blesing it on its success over centuries, or the last decade, I can always show you an older tradition.

And example is David’s orders for a rock band to accompany worship. No organ mentioned, no master 4 part choir.  Way before the Latin Liturgy some are in love with, the first liturgy was in Aramaic. Before the KJV, there was the Bishop’s Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Douay Rheims. (and there have been Bibles after the NIV/ESV). Before there was Rooted, the was Alpha, before that, PDL, before that LSS. Before Mirco-Churches, there were K Groups, Small Groups, Cell Churches.

All of these things have been used to “tell the nations about His splendor!” All of these have the ability to explain “the LORD is great and certainly worthy of praise! He is more awesome than all Gods!” ( I really dislike my translation above not using exclamation points, or not capitalizing pronouns referring to God.)

That’s the most important thing – does your tradition, your practice point you to Jesus, to His work in your life, to His presence, love, mercy. If you tradition/practice reveals Christ in you, the hope of glory, keep it! But also realize that the only reason you do is to point you to Christ Jesus. Apart from that your tradition has no value, and can easily become an idol, as you tie your hope to it, rather than the Lord is it supposed to reveal.  This is Pope Benedict’s point, for when Jesus is revealed, His death and resurrection become ours, we are raised with Him, and are part of His family. It is what Tozer points to about Pentecost–and what saves 3000 men and their families that day. It is about Jesus, not the speaking in tongues, not the massive crowds, or the 12 apostles speaking like trained professionals. Its about the fact they killed Jesus (as did we) and that Ha risen, and we, having risen with are His.

If your tradition/practice does that – don’t praise it, praise God…

De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 177). Emmaus Academic.

Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.