Saturday, December 17, 2011

Tradition

I fear that protestants in general and evangelicals in particular have lost something sacred in their rejection of the traditions of the Church. Tradition is a tool like any other. We haven't stopped using hammers because someone used a hammer as a murder weapon once. Throughout the Scripture God consistently instructs his people to remember, to set up memorials, to celebrate feasts... developing traditions to pass on the great stories of God and his redemptive history to the following generations. We fear that traditions will become as rote and meaningless to us as the words of the liturgy are to lukewarm Roman Catholics. But the words of our sermons are just as meaningless to lukewarm evangelicals. Let's not throw out the baby with the bath water. Traditions do not create lukewarm believers. Lukewarm believers render traditions meaningless. I want to be a husband (and eventually a father) who continues and creates meaningful spiritual traditions for my family. But I'm not sure we need to reinvent the wheel... Christians have been celebrating advent and lent for centuries.

I'm not sure how this thinking will bear out for me practically, but I felt the need to get it down "on paper."

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