Tradition….tradition!

So I don’t know about you, but most of the time when I hear ‘tradition’ like that, I tend to hear the whole cast of Fiddler on the Roof in my head belting out the song from the movie.

And the topic today echoes one of the main themes of that musical production – that stubbornly holding on to tradition can end up being destructive in our lives.

The Christmas Tradition

Being raised by British parents, I grew up with the tradition of sharing a lunchtime roast with our extended family on Christmas Day, including the Christmas crackers, lame jokes and stupid paper hats.

Once I married and had a large family of my own, continuing to share this traditional Christmas meal meant packing all of my kids into the car before they’d really had time to explore their gifts, then travelling to the home of my parents-in-law where lunch might not actually be served until 2pm (or later). That meant having to entertain the kids and keep them from getting fractious or killing one another whilst we waited for the meal. So, sharing a midday roast might be nice anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere where it’s winter and likely to be cold, but I can tell you that it’s no fun at all on a scorching hot summer’s day in Australia, when the kids are getting ratty and there’s no air-conditioning.

Change in the wind

As our children grew, the pleasure of sharing the traditional Christmas meal was gradually being outweighed by the impracticalities of participating in it, so we made the decision to change things. Considering it nigh on madness to turn on an oven during the day when the outside temperatures already felt like an oven, we decided to have our celebration meal at home on Christmas Eve instead.

Only by deliberately giving conscious thought to the tradition (as it stood) was I able to acknowledge how impractical and binding it had become for us. Even though I understood the point of the festive occasion was to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and that what mattered most about it wasn’t really the meal being served, but the people it was being shared with, those factors did not need to limit the way in which we celebrated. Being willing to question the tradition’s purpose enabled me to recognize that we need not be slaves to tradition. That realization altered my perspective, and subsequently changed the way we celebrated Christmas from then on.

That’s the way it’s always been

You see, tradition is the way we pass on the social or cultural customs from one generation to the next. That will include our nuclear or extended family, the geographical region or country we live in, or any social, political or religious group we choose to belong to.

Over time, traditions are created as each culture develops its own particular practices and ways of thinking. Those traditional practices and ways of thinking can then become like the unwritten rules of belonging within whatever group we are part of. That means for us to feel we belong, we are expected to accept and follow those rules and traditions – and that principle holds true within churches, denominations and Christianity in general.

Without our even realizing it, traditions can become the major influence under-girding our perspectives as believers, and constitute the basic framework of our belief system. In effect, tradition can be predicating our choices for us without our being consciously aware of it. As believers, this is not a sound basis to build our faith upon.

Keep on keeping on

One of the reasons we continue with traditions is because we learn to associate emotionally with them, just as we do with the Christmas tradition of gathering with family around a celebration meal. We become attached to the traditions because we become attached to the people we share them with. We perpetuate the traditions because we enjoy feeling like we belong to this group of people we have become attached to. The longer we are part of that group, the more invested we become in it, and the more that group is likely to then influence our identity.

Challenging any rules or traditions can be unsettling for others within the group because it can appear to be threatening the emotional security we feel at belonging to that group. And it must be said that just because a practice or attitude is traditional, that does not necessarily make it wrong. It’s only problematic when our attachment to those traditions is blind and unthinking, because it can make us unwilling to question or review the purpose of our practices, or the framework of our attitudes and beliefs.

Imprint

Just as any child is imprinted by the culture of the family they are born into, a newly born-again believer will be imprinted by the particular form of Christian culture they have been born-again into. For example, in a natural family where Dad is a staunch football supporter, then not only are the kids likely to get into football too, but chances are they will barrack for the same football club as their father without ever necessarily considering their choice.

Similarly, from the time we are born again we will be imprinted by the culture we have been born-again into. The traditional practices, perspectives and ideologies of both the individual church we attend, and the overarching Christian culture will inevitably imprint on us and become part of our new, born-again identity. Those in positions of influence over us will reinforce the value of those traditions, and also our need to comply with them. And because we want to feel we belong in that new group, we look to established members of the group for direction on how to comply as we develop our new identity.

Perpetuating the traditions we have been trained to accept and enact can invoke a sense of well being within us, because we feel we are fulfilling the rules of belonging within that group. That in turn provides us with an internal assurance that we must be okay as human beings and as Christians because we are conforming to the status quo. Part of our training will also include being discouraged from rocking the boat or challenging the traditions.

In such situations, everyone will be content as long as they are all going along to get along, and willing to unquestioningly accept the traditional practices and perspectives. Although unstated, an added enticement for continuing with traditions is that doing so can also relieve us of the responsibility for considering why we believe what we believe.

Hold tight

Perhaps we hold on to traditional ways of thinking because it sets an external parameter for us that acts much like a mental short-cut. It means we don’t have to exert much effort to examine or decide what we personally believe, because we can take on the group’s traditional ways of thinking in much the same way as we might shrug into a comfortable overcoat. Although it might help us feel warm and comfortable, we can end up becoming more concerned about being comfortable and warm, than we are with whether or not the coat actually fits us, or whether we actually need a coat at all. We might develop a religious theology based on whatever church we go to, or whatever denomination we are part of, rather than developing an individual and personal faith built in response to the truth of the Word, and through relationship with our Creator.

Daring to question any church, denominational or religious tradition may send a shock-wave rippling through a fellowship – firstly, because it may bring to attention something no one had ever before thought to question, or been aware it was something they even needed to consider. And secondly, because it effectively forces people to look at something they may have preferred to actively avoid looking at or thinking about.

Questioning traditions can shake the foundations of our faith because they force us to examine the framework of our own beliefs; to question the why of what we believe. If the foundation of our faith and identity in God has been based exclusively on the traditional practices and perspectives of a church or denomination, then having to face a challenge to those things can be scary – because they effectively force us into a type of ideological jungle where we are no longer certain about who we are or how we fit in.

Shelter

We might cling to tradition because it provides an umbrella for us to shelter our faith beneath. It enables us to avoid risking our faith being tested. It can make us fearful of not rocking the boat. We stick with whatever is already in place because it alleviates us from a degree of personal responsibility and accountability in our walk with God. Tradition can easily become an excuse for us, as believers, to do some things that are not good, or an excuse not to do the good things we should.

I once knew a woman that got upset because a stranger had come in to church wearing a baseball cap. To her it was an affront, because she believed it was disrespectful for a man to wear a hat in church. I took the view that his being there demonstrated a desire to find God, and that such a desire was more important than whether or not he was wearing a hat. Perhaps it was traditional for men to remove their hats in church at that time, but if a person has come from a background without Christian influence or church involvement, how are they to know? Is it possible that the woman was moved more by church culture than by love? More attached to the tradition than she was to God? Because which is more important – the outward appearance of a person, or the state of their soul? Is it more important to enforce church culture, or to demonstrate the grace of God?

Practice and Perspective

Most of us will have been to a church service before, so we will recognize there is a pattern regularly followed. But have you ever questioned why a church service is organized the way it is? For example, why is praise and worship usually first in a service? Is it meant to orientate us and help us focus on God, or is it in order to make us feel good so we will give more money later on? Why doesn’t it occur spontaneously as the Spirit leads?

Or have you ever wondered why the whole proceedings need to be paused while the tithes and offerings are publicly gathered up? Didn’t Jesus say:

If our giving is meant to be private, wouldn’t it be better to just make some sort of receptacle available for attendees to put their money in privately; unobserved and whenever it suits them? Or is public giving simply a means of social control? I once visited a church that, when it was time to collect tithes and offering, paraded two small wooden chests to the front of the church. The congregation was then expected to make their way to the front and deposit their offerings into these chests whilst under the scrutiny of the entire fellowship. That is hardly giving in private!

The Bottom Line

We do ourselves a disservice when we fail to question and test whatever we are being asked to believe. Just because something is traditional does not mean it is right or true. It doesn’t mean it is wrong either, but it is the responsibility of each believer to examine and decide for themselves. As God’s representatives, isn’t incumbent upon us to encourage one another to test and weigh whatever information we are presented with? Shouldn’t we be teaching new believers how to lean into God and trust in His Word more than anything, or anyone else?

We should not allow our emotional attachment to any tradition to become a stumbling block that stops us from evolving our practices to meet present needs. Nor should we let our distaste for change make us so obstinate that we refuse to bend in our outlook, even when we can plainly see that change is necessary. If we are to stand before the world as authentic ambassadors for Christ, then each of us need to know for ourselves why we believe what we believe. We need to be able to stand firm in our identity in Him irrespective of any church or religious tradition.

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