“things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.”
Psalms 78:3-7 NIV
What anchors the church?
An anchor is a useful tool, it can keep a boat from drifting away but it can also impede the movement of the boat if it is not used at the right time for the right reasons. If the chain that holds the anchor to the boat is not strong enough, it will break and the boat will anchor.
When we think about what is to hold the church it is Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father as starters, followed by the Holy Scriptures, and followed by that is discipline with the gift of faith coming out of each of these. Tradition does play a part in this to a lesser extent but also to a greater extent than some would put it today.
Tradition when used correctly helps us today connect with those who lived by faith so many years ago. It is arguable that through tradition we can get a clearer understanding of the original practises and beliefs of our early brothers and sisters in Christ. We have to be aware as the early reformers were aware that at times tradition can lead us away from the actual practise that we are trying to follow. That is why the reformers wanted to look closer at the earlier practises when the current practises that had grown up in the “tradition” did not seem to align with the word of God. Yet today there are those who would throw out tradition because it guides us in a way that people do not want it to. As I said tradition can be helpful if used properly it can actually help to guide us back to a faithful practise of worship and a relationship with God because tradition incorporates every one and thing that I mentioned before, it should never be separated from them.
Yet one of the main focuses that we find in our society is a heightened focus on humanism, individualizations, and self pronouncements. Tradition when followed back to Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, through the scriptures, through the practise of discipline should not lead you to ourselves. The rootedness of tradition can give life to us because it should be leading us to Jesus and this is a problem for some people because it changes the narrative that they want people to live by. The church is not suppose to be focused on toxic, self centred individuality, it is suppose to be a gathering of people who are blessed by Jesus coming together to share that blessing in the world as the hands and feet of Jesus. The Church is a community of Faith empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Church is rooted in Jesus not in me. But we believe that we are made alive by the Holy Spirit living in each of us joining us together as the body of Christ.
When tradition is helping to keep us rooted in Jesus it is doing what it should. When tradition starts to take us away from Jesus we need to take a hard look at it especially when tradition is elevated above Jesus.