Profound and encouraging.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90133974
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tradition
As presented as a sermon on 5/7/08
Tradition
The word tradition kind of has a similar reaction in American life as the word flan. A lot of people really like flan, will continue to like flan and cannot see any real immediate problem with flan. Others are the opposite: the hate flan, will never really acquiesce or accept flan and can cite several issues with the makeup and practice of flan. There seems to be little middle ground at times, perhaps because the middle ground could really care less about pro and con flan issues. The American Protestant experience is similar in terms of its reaction to tradition. Just for the record, I am a staunch non-flan.
I would like to take a little time to make it clear what we are not discussing here. When I say tradition, I do not mean those ways of reading the bible that we have invested in or theologies that we hold close to us. Those may be good for us right now, but that is not what I mean by tradition.
When I say tradition, I do not mean those ideologies and systems that have more to do with things more at home in discussion in home economics and American government classes. Those things have a role in our lives, but they are not what I mean by tradition.
When I say tradition, I do not wish to hearken back to some good old days, when Christianity was “pure” or “in its best form.” It is my belief that the church is instead the only thing that can truly come close to the philosophically oxymoronic term “necessary evil.” As thus, it is ever being perfected and sanctified by the true Author Savior, and Perfector, the Lord God Almighty.
I will make clear how I understand tradition in a minute, but now, if you will indulge a story of my personal experience.
When I came to begin my Christian journey, my first church experiences are what we might call low-church. As many of you know, these early encounters in ecclesiology happened inside the walls of a small but growing congregation of Pentecostals (a perennial growth status for Pentecostal churches, regardless of their numbers). It was there that I first learned of tradition and sacrament, that there is a slight difference and that tradition is mostly bad and that we should not really worry about it all that much. So, I did not worry about it all that much. Actually, it was not even until I went to a Christmas Eve service a few years ago with my mom that I realized that there was something to tradition other than it is something to slough off in favor of something “authentic.” It was in the very structured service that many people seemed to have a very real peace about them. I stored this for later reflection. As I started seminary school, I was immediately thrown into a salad of conviction and faith expression. When confronted with the idea of tradition, my guard came up and I half-scoffed. But as I saw that tradition need not be dead ritual and idolatry, as it had been portrayed to me thus far, I began to realize the utility and beauty of expression as seen in the traditions embraced by my fellow brothers and sisters. Needless to say, I was humbled and a little upset. I feel like I missed out on some really great stuff along the way.
All right, so maybe you are tired of hearing the word tradition without knowing exactly what I mean. Here it is: an expression of faith based on scriptural themes, that may be experienced by the body in humility, together, and in reflection of who God is and His work through the persons of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We may regard tradition as an attempt by the church to transmit God’s self disclosure across the chasm of generation. Finally, tradition is democratic: it must have the consent first of the Holy Spirit so that it may be ratified by the body of Christ within a local framework of worship.
Easy enough, right? Sounds great right?
But tradition in the late-modern/postmodern American Protestant experience is a four letter word in some places. I think this has more to do with our sociologic makeup rather than orthodoxy (and among Americans especially, it is an interesting pattern as to how theology is used to sustain certain sociological patterns in the church rather than the other way around.) In fact, the protestant rallying cry, sola scriptura cited by many an anti-traditionalist seems to make their theological point for them. And yet, this term has been completely divorced from what Martin Luther had in mind when he was attempting to bring some much needed change to the Roman Catholic Church. Luther himself would rather not let go of much of the traditions of the church: just those that were an more an impediment to the edification of the church and a way to maintain ancient power edifices. Luther saw scripture as having more authority than the decisions and commands of the ecclesial power structure, and thus he saw scripture as the true source that funds right thinking and practice. We may understand how Luther regarded church tradition as a demotion rather than a negation. When Wesley reflected upon the role of tradition within the contexts of worship and revelation, he placed it within a quadrilateral, held in tension with scripture (which rightly funds all other aspects of the quadrilateral), reason (which is used to make coherent ideas about God as well as reflect on Him), and experience (which creates a unique personal encounter to add to the overall group within the conviction of faith). All four of these things have a part to play in linking our hearts and minds to the work of God in the nation of ancient Israel and through the person of Jesus Christ.
Americans today seem to have a major problem with memory. We are a distracted culture that has many tools that do the work of memory for us. However, many of us have very strange gifts of memory. Some can remember old box scores, some can remember entire Madonna records worth of lyrics and some can even remember other peoples’ names. I personally can remember a great many a plotline and obscure character of popular fiction. That is a nice way of saying that I am a dork. My point is, that memory is something we can work on. Scripture records another group of people with a memory problem: the Israelites. The work of God in Exodus was repeatedly remembered, only to be repeatedly forgotten as soon as times got good enough. God Himself made remembrance of this event of prime importance, only to have his chosen children continually forget what He had done for them. With the traditional feast of Passover, the Hebrew people honored the memory of God’s act of miraculous salvation. When Jesus came, he told his disciples during a Passover feast to remember Him in breaking bread. This is the driving force behind all beneficial tradition: to remember what God has done for us, and reflecting on who He is, having done so. It should center our attention on something of real importance.
Tradition does not have to be stuffy or lame. In fact, be encouraged to think up new and creative ways to remember God’s person and work. Having something tangible may go along way to keeping God on your mind during the toil of the week. Perhaps a discipline of meditation or silence can become a tradition within your household. Perhaps writing down a love letter to God can become part of your weekly worship. All these things may be passed along, just like holidays and heirlooms and perhaps they will deepen your reflection of the most Holy God.
I would be remiss if I did not make a warning. Tradition may become an idol. We must always be aware of why we celebrate or take part in an act of tradition. We should do these things out of true and sincere worship. If duty becomes reason over loving reflection, it may be time to reexamine that particular act. Tradition may become an advertising campaign. Jesus warns against doing things just to be seen rather than out of devotion. We would take care to recognize and examine our intent always. Tradition may be used for control. We have no business using the things of worship to lord power over the ones we know and serve. Pretending we are in control is the heart of blasphemy.
Now as for control, it is not my wish to change anything about how this expression of he body celebrates its worship. Rather, I do wish to broaden our horizons of worship.
It is my hope tonight that you may have a greater respect and understanding of those that have different religious practices than we do, that they have their own worth for those that wish to worship He is truly only worthy. I hope that you would seek to make a physical dimension of worship, something to express your thoughts and feelings to the One that allows us to think and feel.
I would invite you to take part in some of the Christian church’s oldest traditions, the recitation of the Apostles’ Creed as well as the Lord’s Supper.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. AMEN.
When we take the bread into our mouths tonight, be reminded of the reality of Christ’s broken body for us. Not in the mystical substantial change our Catholic brothers celebrate, but still in a very real sense. May we remember the Body of our Lord.
When we drink of the cup, be reminded of the bitter taste of death that He conquered to make a new covenant with us. Do not be fearful of the trials we have set before us, but may we celebrate them together in His service. May we remember the blood of the Lamb.
Tradition
The word tradition kind of has a similar reaction in American life as the word flan. A lot of people really like flan, will continue to like flan and cannot see any real immediate problem with flan. Others are the opposite: the hate flan, will never really acquiesce or accept flan and can cite several issues with the makeup and practice of flan. There seems to be little middle ground at times, perhaps because the middle ground could really care less about pro and con flan issues. The American Protestant experience is similar in terms of its reaction to tradition. Just for the record, I am a staunch non-flan.
I would like to take a little time to make it clear what we are not discussing here. When I say tradition, I do not mean those ways of reading the bible that we have invested in or theologies that we hold close to us. Those may be good for us right now, but that is not what I mean by tradition.
When I say tradition, I do not mean those ideologies and systems that have more to do with things more at home in discussion in home economics and American government classes. Those things have a role in our lives, but they are not what I mean by tradition.
When I say tradition, I do not wish to hearken back to some good old days, when Christianity was “pure” or “in its best form.” It is my belief that the church is instead the only thing that can truly come close to the philosophically oxymoronic term “necessary evil.” As thus, it is ever being perfected and sanctified by the true Author Savior, and Perfector, the Lord God Almighty.
I will make clear how I understand tradition in a minute, but now, if you will indulge a story of my personal experience.
When I came to begin my Christian journey, my first church experiences are what we might call low-church. As many of you know, these early encounters in ecclesiology happened inside the walls of a small but growing congregation of Pentecostals (a perennial growth status for Pentecostal churches, regardless of their numbers). It was there that I first learned of tradition and sacrament, that there is a slight difference and that tradition is mostly bad and that we should not really worry about it all that much. So, I did not worry about it all that much. Actually, it was not even until I went to a Christmas Eve service a few years ago with my mom that I realized that there was something to tradition other than it is something to slough off in favor of something “authentic.” It was in the very structured service that many people seemed to have a very real peace about them. I stored this for later reflection. As I started seminary school, I was immediately thrown into a salad of conviction and faith expression. When confronted with the idea of tradition, my guard came up and I half-scoffed. But as I saw that tradition need not be dead ritual and idolatry, as it had been portrayed to me thus far, I began to realize the utility and beauty of expression as seen in the traditions embraced by my fellow brothers and sisters. Needless to say, I was humbled and a little upset. I feel like I missed out on some really great stuff along the way.
All right, so maybe you are tired of hearing the word tradition without knowing exactly what I mean. Here it is: an expression of faith based on scriptural themes, that may be experienced by the body in humility, together, and in reflection of who God is and His work through the persons of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We may regard tradition as an attempt by the church to transmit God’s self disclosure across the chasm of generation. Finally, tradition is democratic: it must have the consent first of the Holy Spirit so that it may be ratified by the body of Christ within a local framework of worship.
Easy enough, right? Sounds great right?
But tradition in the late-modern/postmodern American Protestant experience is a four letter word in some places. I think this has more to do with our sociologic makeup rather than orthodoxy (and among Americans especially, it is an interesting pattern as to how theology is used to sustain certain sociological patterns in the church rather than the other way around.) In fact, the protestant rallying cry, sola scriptura cited by many an anti-traditionalist seems to make their theological point for them. And yet, this term has been completely divorced from what Martin Luther had in mind when he was attempting to bring some much needed change to the Roman Catholic Church. Luther himself would rather not let go of much of the traditions of the church: just those that were an more an impediment to the edification of the church and a way to maintain ancient power edifices. Luther saw scripture as having more authority than the decisions and commands of the ecclesial power structure, and thus he saw scripture as the true source that funds right thinking and practice. We may understand how Luther regarded church tradition as a demotion rather than a negation. When Wesley reflected upon the role of tradition within the contexts of worship and revelation, he placed it within a quadrilateral, held in tension with scripture (which rightly funds all other aspects of the quadrilateral), reason (which is used to make coherent ideas about God as well as reflect on Him), and experience (which creates a unique personal encounter to add to the overall group within the conviction of faith). All four of these things have a part to play in linking our hearts and minds to the work of God in the nation of ancient Israel and through the person of Jesus Christ.
Americans today seem to have a major problem with memory. We are a distracted culture that has many tools that do the work of memory for us. However, many of us have very strange gifts of memory. Some can remember old box scores, some can remember entire Madonna records worth of lyrics and some can even remember other peoples’ names. I personally can remember a great many a plotline and obscure character of popular fiction. That is a nice way of saying that I am a dork. My point is, that memory is something we can work on. Scripture records another group of people with a memory problem: the Israelites. The work of God in Exodus was repeatedly remembered, only to be repeatedly forgotten as soon as times got good enough. God Himself made remembrance of this event of prime importance, only to have his chosen children continually forget what He had done for them. With the traditional feast of Passover, the Hebrew people honored the memory of God’s act of miraculous salvation. When Jesus came, he told his disciples during a Passover feast to remember Him in breaking bread. This is the driving force behind all beneficial tradition: to remember what God has done for us, and reflecting on who He is, having done so. It should center our attention on something of real importance.
Tradition does not have to be stuffy or lame. In fact, be encouraged to think up new and creative ways to remember God’s person and work. Having something tangible may go along way to keeping God on your mind during the toil of the week. Perhaps a discipline of meditation or silence can become a tradition within your household. Perhaps writing down a love letter to God can become part of your weekly worship. All these things may be passed along, just like holidays and heirlooms and perhaps they will deepen your reflection of the most Holy God.
I would be remiss if I did not make a warning. Tradition may become an idol. We must always be aware of why we celebrate or take part in an act of tradition. We should do these things out of true and sincere worship. If duty becomes reason over loving reflection, it may be time to reexamine that particular act. Tradition may become an advertising campaign. Jesus warns against doing things just to be seen rather than out of devotion. We would take care to recognize and examine our intent always. Tradition may be used for control. We have no business using the things of worship to lord power over the ones we know and serve. Pretending we are in control is the heart of blasphemy.
Now as for control, it is not my wish to change anything about how this expression of he body celebrates its worship. Rather, I do wish to broaden our horizons of worship.
It is my hope tonight that you may have a greater respect and understanding of those that have different religious practices than we do, that they have their own worth for those that wish to worship He is truly only worthy. I hope that you would seek to make a physical dimension of worship, something to express your thoughts and feelings to the One that allows us to think and feel.
I would invite you to take part in some of the Christian church’s oldest traditions, the recitation of the Apostles’ Creed as well as the Lord’s Supper.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. AMEN.
When we take the bread into our mouths tonight, be reminded of the reality of Christ’s broken body for us. Not in the mystical substantial change our Catholic brothers celebrate, but still in a very real sense. May we remember the Body of our Lord.
When we drink of the cup, be reminded of the bitter taste of death that He conquered to make a new covenant with us. Do not be fearful of the trials we have set before us, but may we celebrate them together in His service. May we remember the blood of the Lamb.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Prayer
as reflection runs to pen
as pen makes word
as word changes mind
may a tender heart
ever be so
even if memory inspires tradition
even if tradition turns to ritual
even if ritual becomes idolatry
may a tender heart
ever be so
...O forgive us
when thanks moves from prayer
when prayer comes from praise
when praise responds to grace
...and when we realize
the source is the same
may a tender heart
ever be so.
Amen.
as pen makes word
as word changes mind
may a tender heart
ever be so
even if memory inspires tradition
even if tradition turns to ritual
even if ritual becomes idolatry
may a tender heart
ever be so
...O forgive us
when thanks moves from prayer
when prayer comes from praise
when praise responds to grace
...and when we realize
the source is the same
may a tender heart
ever be so.
Amen.
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