Ah, the power of church tradition

Tradition shapes us.  They shape not only our practice but our belief systems as well.    Silent Night to close Christmas Eve services (with candles!).  Only men as ushers.  Children dismissed before the sermon.  Only real bread (or only those wafers) for communion.  Roses for moms on Mother's Day.  God Bless America on the 4th of July.  American flags in the chancel.  Everyone must kneel for communion.


None of these point to God's love for us, made flesh in Jesus, offering life beyond life and claiming us as beloved children.  But they sure do shape us.  Just ask any pastor; they are often our most valued religious relics.

We convince ourselves that The. Church.Will. Fall. if any of these things is altered.  The Kingdom of God will come to an end!  Our faith will be destroyed.  Our life will cease to have meaning!

Really?  Are not these traditions no more than what we have come to expect when gathered in worship?  Yet, these kind of traditions shape our understanding of God and how God acts in this world.  Did we begin our faith lives believing God was a man.......or did centuries of exclusive male language and leadership confuse the here and now with the eternal?  Did we begin with a notion that America has been especially blessed by the Divine........or did the repeated presence of the American flag and singing of national songs confuse our worship of the One True God with loyalty to a very nice but temporal government? Is communion only valid when we kneel?

I know, you don't want to talk about these things.  They just cause controversy.

But I ask:  Do these questions raise as much controversy as the question of how we as a faith community are going to increase our support of the homeless in our town?  As much controversy as how we as a faith community are going to participate in tutoring students in our poorest neighborhoods?  As much controversy as whether we, as a faith community, need to take action to change the abuse that LBGTQ students are experiencing in our own schools?  That much controversy?

Have we confused kneeling for communion with the powerful presence of the risen Lord re-shaping us and calling us forward to be his face to a hurting world?

Have we confused our personal preferences (or the way we were raised) with God's call through the Holy Spirit to live as children of a redeeming, forgiving God?

Have we confused the lovely building in which we have worshipped for decades, going back generations for the Church of Jesus Christ called into being through the Holy Spirit for the sake of the entire world?

Are we listening only to our own voices.....those who agree with us, whose lives are 'like ours' and stopped listening to the marginalized, the poor, the hungry.....the voices of the Spirit?

Have we forgotten who the Savior is?  How much we need him?  How much he loves us? How he lived his life?

Have we forgotten the truth at the center of our faith......."God so loved the world that he gave his own son,..."?

Have we forgotten that God's goal is shalom, not dominance?

Ah, the power of church traditions.  What practices are shaping our community? Those that point us to life in the eternal ....or those that point us to life in the comfortable and familiar?

What voices are we hearing?  Those that challenge us to go deeper and cut away that which keeps us from God....or those that reflect our political/social/economic/religious views?

Who is setting the agenda for our life?  for our days?  for our finances?

I can hear some saying, "Really, now.  Don't get all carried away."  But you see, that is exactly what I want to happen........I want to be carried away by the one who said, "Father forgive them" because it means 'Father, forgive this one here as well.'

Which traditions are shaping you?