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Dealing with Traditionalism in the Church. Its easier than you think!
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.
“And Therefore,” A New Easter Tradition…that I highly recommend!
Devotional Thought of the Day”
51 Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed.
53 For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die. 54 So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: “Death is destroyed; victory is complete!”
1 Corinthians 15:51-54 (TEV)
12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. Colossians 2:12 (TEV)
4 By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life. 5 For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was. Romans 6:4-5 (TEV)
Christ is risen! In old chronicles we read how the faithful in Russia used to embrace each other with this greeting. They had undergone tangible renunciation during the period of Lent, and now that this period was over, they experienced a real, immense overflowing of joy. By entering into the rhythm of the Church’s year they knew quite tangibly that life had triumphed and that life was beautiful. We still celebrate Easter today, of course, but the grey veil of doubt has spread over the heart of Christendom, robbing us of joy. So is Easter obsolete, a word powerless to inspire hope?
A few years ago, I wrote an Easter sermon called “So what”. And as I took the church through the Easter Acclimation, I asked them to respond one more time:
Pastor: Alleluia! Christ has Risen!
Church; HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!!!
Pastor: And therefore…
Church: WE ARE RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!
The concept worked well, and with Great energy, they responded. It worked so well, we used that call and response for the rest of Easter (which is celebrated for 7 weeks in our church)
But what I would have never expected happened the next year, when I was planning on only doing the traditional Acclimation, and one of my elders, seeing me pause, enthusiastically and loudly proclaimed the “And therefore” and the entire church responded with the “We are Risen Indeed!”
It is now tradition!
And some poor pastor 30 years from now will have to consider whether it is a tradition he is willing to pay the price of changing!
But I love it. It helps drive the meaning of Easter home. In a world where, as Pope Benedict notes, Easter has become obsolete ( You rarely see church attendance go up on Easter anymore, when it was once the only day some would show up) this little tradition is making a difference.
It makes people realize the Resurrection is personal, they have a major stake in it. THeir role in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus is talked about throughout scripture, and especially in Paul’s writings (there are more than the ones above)
And what we now know as a promise, and see hints of here and there, it is guaranteed. We will be changed, we are immortal, and our bodies will one day resemble this. We dwell in the presence of God, and death’s defeat is sure.
Easter matters, and however it takes to make that something we realize, for ourselves and can teach with conviction to those who follow is a not a bad tradition to have.
With Christ, you have risen indeed. Alleluia! AMEN!
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (p. 126). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Spirituality, Religion, debates, a serpent on the pole (and other theological nonsense)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
26 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. 27 Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. James 1:26-27 (MSG)
12 In the third place, such traditions have turned out to be a grievous burden to consciences, for it was not possible to keep all the traditions, and yet the people were of the opinion that they were a necessary service of God.
13 Gerson writes that many fell into despair on this account, and some even committed suicide, because they had not heard anything of the consolation of the grace of Christ.
14 We can see in the writings of the summists6 and canonists7 how consciences have been confused, for they undertook to collate the traditions and sought mitigations to relieve consciences,
15 but they were so occupied with such efforts that they neglected all wholesome Christian teachings about more important things, such as faith, consolation in severe trials, and the like. (1)
384 Confusion. I knew you were unsure of the rightness of your judgment. And, so that you might understand me, I wrote you: “The devil has a very ugly face, and since he’s so smart he won’t risk our seeing his horns. He never makes a direct attack. That’s why he so often comes in the disguise of nobleness and even of spirituality!” (1)
When I see individuals or groups opposing each other, I often find that they make the same error. Like my favorite illustration of the pessimist and the optimist arguing about the 16 oz container with 8 oz of liquid in it. They lose their ability to fight when I reveal that the purpose for the glass is not the discussion, but so I may be refreshed through drinking its contents. (Usually they get upset at me until I remind them that it was my beer they were arguing about.. not their own)
I see this often in debates about religion, and about spirituality. Often it includes a debate about traditions, whether those traditions are understood or not. Or whether the traditions belong to the centuries or that traditions someone has created in more modern times… like over the last decade…. or year.
Either way, the debates come about in such a way that they are competitive and miss the meaning. They may not be debates even, but blogs and video blogs that try and prove their view right. Or that their preferred theologians kick but on less holy and knowledgable folk.
And all it does it leave the writers, and the readers, scrambling to find the next quote, the next arrow to be added to their quiver, the next weapon to back their position.
And int he meantime, we lose sight of Jesus, We turn away from the conduits of grace, His word, and His sacraments. We fail to be in awe, for we fail to recognize His presence. The very presence that our traditions (whether new or ancient) had a part in revealing to us.
My son last night, as we were reading about the destruction of the serpent Moses obediently fashioned, wondered why people would offer sacrifices to it. He’s noted that God saved them using the bronze serpent; the serpent didn’t save them. So it was silly to his eight-year-old mind that people would worship a tool rather than the one wielding it. But how many other things have been like that. The Temple, the Ark of the Covenant, Gideon’s breastplate, the liturgy, contemporary and traditional music. Even crosses and church buildings, theologians and philosophers and their writings…
All of that stuff can be good, it can also distract us from offering a glass of water in His name. It can edify us, or it can prevent us from edifying others. It can consume our time, and while seeming good, it can also become sin, separating us from spending time with God. It can blind us to what God has commissioned, a life walked with Him, going where He sends us, to reconcile the world back to Him (and therefore to each other).
This is real life, walking humbly with God…. living for others as Christ did.
May all our traditions, all our practices, point us toward Him, and may we see Him, and not the practices.
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(1) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 65–66). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 970-972). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
