A Message from the Pastor
So often it has been asserted that the Protestant Reformation dismantled the idea that Tradition played a role in the church and her dogma and doctrines. After all, if you have God’s Word in Scripture, why would you need tradition? It is a valid question and one that Lutherans have had to struggle with since the 1500’s. What I would assert is that Lutherans have eschewed tradition, but cling tightly to a dangerous notion known as “traditionalism.” What is the difference between tradition and traditionalism? Jaroslav Pelikan wrestled with this question and posed the following answer: “Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” In other words, tradition has something to teach us, while traditionalism is a spiritually stiflingly concept.
Pelikan continued his argument, however. He suggested that respecting tradition was like having a conversation with the past while bearing in mind that we live in the present, and we are the ones who must decide how tradition is appropriated in our own context. Traditionalism is not like this. It suggests that we should never try anything new, and that what we need to do is figure out exactly how something was done in some mythical pristine era and then repeat it, hoping for positive results. Again, it demonstrates how tradition can be life giving, while traditionalism can be defeatist and negative. And yet, how often in times of change have we uttered those dangerous words, “We can’t do it that way! We’ve never done it that way before!”
The Reformation was a time when traditions were re-examined to see if they were useful in the spread of the Gospel. Some were useful and were rightly retained by the Church. Others were not, and may have even prevented the Gospel from being clearly heard; so these practices and ideas were jettisoned in order that the Gospel has primacy in all things. Our goals today, 490 years after that fateful day when Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg are the same: we want to see the Gospel of Christ proclaimed in all its majesty and in purity. In order for this to happen, we must be able to change and adapt the way in which that message is presented, while not sacrificing the message itself. We must not be traditionalists who lose the message and hold on to old methods.
At the same time, this does not mean that we start from scratch time and again. Tradition is there to guide us, to be a primary partner in conversation, and to tell us how others in the past have lived the life of discipleship. There is much wisdom to be gleaned from our forbearers in faith, and it is incumbent upon us as followers of Christ to learn how others followed Christ in various times and places. While we need not replicate everything that was done, nor must we agree with all theological ideas held, we must honor our collective Christian past. In fact, it seems to me that the Church, as a whole, should have one foot firmly planted in the past, while the other foot must be facing forward to our future.