ChiRho
13th April 2005, 08:22 AM
Traditions: Cling to Them or Drop Them?
by Pastor Charlie Mallie
Tradition. When it comes to church, most people roll their eyes at that word. For many people the word touches upon some deep disappointment or hurt. As a pastor who grew up as an unbeliever, the word means many different things to me, some of which I have actually grown to appreciate.
My experience with that word comes from growing up in Roman Catholicism—like I said, unbelief. Not that you can’t have a living, active faith in Jesus Christ while in Rome, I just didn’t . . . because of tradition. The tradition of my East Coast Cathedral-esque Roman Catholicism, complete with Monks, Bishops and ruler-wielding Nuns made sure if I had any concept of God at all it was that He was out to get me . . . and that resistance was futile. Mandatory Confession, mandatory Mass attendance, mandatory examination, it was after all, tradition.
If you grew up with an experience like mine, and having spoken to many of you, I know you have, then you can understand the impetus for the Evangelical/Community Fellowship movement.
So is tradition a good thing or a bad thing? Does it harm people or help them? I think there is potential for both. In the Scriptures, the word tradition is used by Saint Paul to refer to the Gospel message of Christ crucified for sins and risen on the third day. He says, “I give unto you, that which was first handed down to me.” The word he uses for “handed down” is the word that ends up being translated as tradition. That’s an important thing to take note of. Tradition is something that doesn’t originate with us, but was given to us.
In that sense, when it comes to the Gospel, taking what was given to Paul (i.e. the message of Salvation through Jesus’ Atonement) and preserving it would be of great importance. In this light, the Scriptures themselves are tradition. They are what was given to the church, by promise of Jesus, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of preserving the message of God’s love and sacrifice for His people for all time, through the written word. Whew!
Having said that, I would offer that all church tradition that is good, has this emphasis, preservation of the Gospel message, throughout. Furthermore, all bad tradition tends to obscure, redact, or even replace what was first handed down with something else.
I’m a pastor of a small Lutheran church. We use the “Old Hymnal,” TLH (The Lutheran Hymnal). Ask someone why, and I’m sure you’ll hear them say, “Its what we’ve always done.” Tradition. Now if you ask me, the reason why we use TLH is four fold. First, the hymns contained in TLH are theologically superior to just about anything out there and any good pastor knows a couple things about hymnody: Good theology is sung into you more so than taught, and, nine times out of ten, it is in the words of the hymnody they learned as a child that Christians die singing the promises of Christ, as they close their eyes for the last time and are carried into glory in the arms of Jesus. Second, it contains a liturgical service that as a format makes sure a few things that need to be said actually get said. Third, the liturgy contained in TLH is old. It’s old like the Scriptures are old. That means its been sung, spoken and chanted by millions of Christians for going on two thousand years. How’s that for consistency? If this doesn’t appeal to you, think of it as real-life quality control. And let me make one more important point about this. The liturgy is derived from the Scriptures. If you don’t recognize what you’re speaking and singing in the liturgy as passages from Scripture, then perhaps you should read your Bible more, or at least realize that by singing the liturgy you will have memorized whole sections of the Scriptures that have to do with the Sacrifice of Christ and your standing before a holy and just God. Fourth, the liturgy used in TLH preserves not only the message of the Scriptures in summary, but also its center. This, very simply, is why we use the liturgy. It guarantees that anyone coming in, whether it be first time visitor or longtime member, will hear the word of God’s Law convicting sin and exposing the personal need for salvation and also, and with more vigor hear the forgiveness of Jesus Christ offered to the poor in spirit, the broken and contrite, and anyone else who happens to show up. In this sense our tradition is worth preserving.
However, I know that tradition can degrade into traditionalism. Traditionalism is what happens when you are no longer taught why you do what you do. Like the example above, “We’ve always done it this way” begs for explanation. Those who do not know the reason why they do something eventually figure out they don’t need to do whatever they have forgotten the why for.
The tradition of the Scriptures has always been to teach the way of Salvation as proclaimed by the Word of God, to preserve this message accurately and to hand it down that the Great Commission be fulfilled in the making of disciples, who are students of the Scriptures. Anything in or related to church that helps facilitate this goal is helpful and should be preserved to help future generations. Anything that obscures the mission of the church or hinders making disciples should be left by the wayside.
In order to avoid continually re-inventing the wheel, the ones who come after us must be taught. This has traditionally been called catechesis. Catechetical instruction began in the Reformation when Luther realized two things about the average man and pastor. The first was that he had no idea what the Gospel was or what the Scriptures said, Second, he had no tool to help him learn this or teach it to others. Thus Luther revived an ancient tradition. Teaching the faith through a catechism. The first such catechism appeared around the early 2nd century and is known as the didache.
The tradition of teaching the catechism as a way to memorize important passages of Scripture and their sense survives in the Lutheran church, though it has fallen into disuse. I personally have had much struggle with parents who never had to learn their catechisms and so don’t see why their children should have to. Though after two years parents are often surprised at how much their children have grown spiritually and in other areas as well. The tradition of memorization has had a surprising effect in the area of academics. Two of my students who were D/F students in school are now A/B students. Their parents attribute this to the way they have been taught to memorize their catechisms in church and at home.
There are other things we do around our church that would fall into what people would call tradition. What may not be obvious to the outsiders is that these don't all have the same level of importance to us. In fact, the ones people see first are the manmade traditions which are retained mostly to serve the others. We light candles, we sometimes have processions, we kneel at communion, we stand for the Gospel, our pastors wear collars and other vestments. Closer to the heart of what we are about, we sing, we pray, we confess our sins, we hear God’s Word, we preach, we evangelize. More careful teaching is needed regarding these vital things. But at the true center, we also gather around the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ through the forgiveness of our sins offered in the Word of Absolution, the preached Word of the Gospel, Holy Baptism for the remission of sins and the Holy Supper for our continued forgiveness as well as a strengthening of our faith. This is the center of what we do as Christians, its what we’re called to do. This is our tradition. It’s ours because Jesus gave it to us. He handed it down to us through the written word spoken by the Prophets and Apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And in this we remain in what Paul said, “I give unto you that which was first given unto me.”
The Writer
The Reverend Charlie Mallie is a graduate of Concordia University, Irvine, and Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is the pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Laguna Beach, California.
www.oldsolar.com
by Pastor Charlie Mallie
Tradition. When it comes to church, most people roll their eyes at that word. For many people the word touches upon some deep disappointment or hurt. As a pastor who grew up as an unbeliever, the word means many different things to me, some of which I have actually grown to appreciate.
My experience with that word comes from growing up in Roman Catholicism—like I said, unbelief. Not that you can’t have a living, active faith in Jesus Christ while in Rome, I just didn’t . . . because of tradition. The tradition of my East Coast Cathedral-esque Roman Catholicism, complete with Monks, Bishops and ruler-wielding Nuns made sure if I had any concept of God at all it was that He was out to get me . . . and that resistance was futile. Mandatory Confession, mandatory Mass attendance, mandatory examination, it was after all, tradition.
If you grew up with an experience like mine, and having spoken to many of you, I know you have, then you can understand the impetus for the Evangelical/Community Fellowship movement.
So is tradition a good thing or a bad thing? Does it harm people or help them? I think there is potential for both. In the Scriptures, the word tradition is used by Saint Paul to refer to the Gospel message of Christ crucified for sins and risen on the third day. He says, “I give unto you, that which was first handed down to me.” The word he uses for “handed down” is the word that ends up being translated as tradition. That’s an important thing to take note of. Tradition is something that doesn’t originate with us, but was given to us.
In that sense, when it comes to the Gospel, taking what was given to Paul (i.e. the message of Salvation through Jesus’ Atonement) and preserving it would be of great importance. In this light, the Scriptures themselves are tradition. They are what was given to the church, by promise of Jesus, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of preserving the message of God’s love and sacrifice for His people for all time, through the written word. Whew!
Having said that, I would offer that all church tradition that is good, has this emphasis, preservation of the Gospel message, throughout. Furthermore, all bad tradition tends to obscure, redact, or even replace what was first handed down with something else.
I’m a pastor of a small Lutheran church. We use the “Old Hymnal,” TLH (The Lutheran Hymnal). Ask someone why, and I’m sure you’ll hear them say, “Its what we’ve always done.” Tradition. Now if you ask me, the reason why we use TLH is four fold. First, the hymns contained in TLH are theologically superior to just about anything out there and any good pastor knows a couple things about hymnody: Good theology is sung into you more so than taught, and, nine times out of ten, it is in the words of the hymnody they learned as a child that Christians die singing the promises of Christ, as they close their eyes for the last time and are carried into glory in the arms of Jesus. Second, it contains a liturgical service that as a format makes sure a few things that need to be said actually get said. Third, the liturgy contained in TLH is old. It’s old like the Scriptures are old. That means its been sung, spoken and chanted by millions of Christians for going on two thousand years. How’s that for consistency? If this doesn’t appeal to you, think of it as real-life quality control. And let me make one more important point about this. The liturgy is derived from the Scriptures. If you don’t recognize what you’re speaking and singing in the liturgy as passages from Scripture, then perhaps you should read your Bible more, or at least realize that by singing the liturgy you will have memorized whole sections of the Scriptures that have to do with the Sacrifice of Christ and your standing before a holy and just God. Fourth, the liturgy used in TLH preserves not only the message of the Scriptures in summary, but also its center. This, very simply, is why we use the liturgy. It guarantees that anyone coming in, whether it be first time visitor or longtime member, will hear the word of God’s Law convicting sin and exposing the personal need for salvation and also, and with more vigor hear the forgiveness of Jesus Christ offered to the poor in spirit, the broken and contrite, and anyone else who happens to show up. In this sense our tradition is worth preserving.
However, I know that tradition can degrade into traditionalism. Traditionalism is what happens when you are no longer taught why you do what you do. Like the example above, “We’ve always done it this way” begs for explanation. Those who do not know the reason why they do something eventually figure out they don’t need to do whatever they have forgotten the why for.
The tradition of the Scriptures has always been to teach the way of Salvation as proclaimed by the Word of God, to preserve this message accurately and to hand it down that the Great Commission be fulfilled in the making of disciples, who are students of the Scriptures. Anything in or related to church that helps facilitate this goal is helpful and should be preserved to help future generations. Anything that obscures the mission of the church or hinders making disciples should be left by the wayside.
In order to avoid continually re-inventing the wheel, the ones who come after us must be taught. This has traditionally been called catechesis. Catechetical instruction began in the Reformation when Luther realized two things about the average man and pastor. The first was that he had no idea what the Gospel was or what the Scriptures said, Second, he had no tool to help him learn this or teach it to others. Thus Luther revived an ancient tradition. Teaching the faith through a catechism. The first such catechism appeared around the early 2nd century and is known as the didache.
The tradition of teaching the catechism as a way to memorize important passages of Scripture and their sense survives in the Lutheran church, though it has fallen into disuse. I personally have had much struggle with parents who never had to learn their catechisms and so don’t see why their children should have to. Though after two years parents are often surprised at how much their children have grown spiritually and in other areas as well. The tradition of memorization has had a surprising effect in the area of academics. Two of my students who were D/F students in school are now A/B students. Their parents attribute this to the way they have been taught to memorize their catechisms in church and at home.
There are other things we do around our church that would fall into what people would call tradition. What may not be obvious to the outsiders is that these don't all have the same level of importance to us. In fact, the ones people see first are the manmade traditions which are retained mostly to serve the others. We light candles, we sometimes have processions, we kneel at communion, we stand for the Gospel, our pastors wear collars and other vestments. Closer to the heart of what we are about, we sing, we pray, we confess our sins, we hear God’s Word, we preach, we evangelize. More careful teaching is needed regarding these vital things. But at the true center, we also gather around the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ through the forgiveness of our sins offered in the Word of Absolution, the preached Word of the Gospel, Holy Baptism for the remission of sins and the Holy Supper for our continued forgiveness as well as a strengthening of our faith. This is the center of what we do as Christians, its what we’re called to do. This is our tradition. It’s ours because Jesus gave it to us. He handed it down to us through the written word spoken by the Prophets and Apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And in this we remain in what Paul said, “I give unto you that which was first given unto me.”
The Writer
The Reverend Charlie Mallie is a graduate of Concordia University, Irvine, and Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is the pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Laguna Beach, California.
www.oldsolar.com