Listening to a Pete Greig sermon from HTB recently about prayer got me thinking about traditions and how easily we begin to form and follow them. Theres certainly something about human nature that loves doing things they way they have been done before and as far as im concerned, thats no bad thing. But how do we live our lives and serve God both in the framework and appreciation of what believers before us have done and yet also innovate something new.
I cant promise to have spent years studying tradition as a social scientist but i have heard a few wise reflections recently.
Here’s a few thoughts about how we should approach tradition as radical disciples:
1. “Tradition is not wearing your grandfathers hat, its choosing to go out and buy one just like his.” – I heard that quote in a talk by Glynn Barratt of Audacious City Church and i cant quite seem to get it out of my head. Theres nothing at all wrong with building on the past ideas and movements, in fact if we didn’t we would never get anywhere. Many of the most “successful” movements and organisations have been built upon years of hard work by previous generations and to ignore that would be foolish. Yet somehow we must move onto something new and that often means doing something different. I think thats because those amazing movements like Wesley’s Methodism were born out of a vision from God and we are given a new vision for our lives. We cant just buy into the past and expect it to be what God wants to do through us today.
2. “If God moves when we are all standing on one leg, in hundreds of years time, a movement of people starts in which they believe God will ONLY move when they stand on one leg.” Pete Greig jokily used this as a warning of tradition in one of his sermon i heard online (check out the HTB Podcast) Have you ever noticed how easily we can restrict what God wants to do based on our own experience. I know that at times in my life where God has met me powerfully, the next time i prayed i expected him to do exactly the same. But as Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
shows although we are limited, theres nothing God cant do. We should always be surprised at the power of God and the amazing things he does in us. If we restrict our churches and our relationship with God with tradition, then couldn’t we miss something exciting that God wants to do.
3. “Getting back to the early church” Many church organisations feel strongly that the model of church found in the new testament is the way to avoid becoming traditional. If im honest, i love this approach because, the church the church in Acts was small and free to do whatever they wanted. But we have got to make sure we don’t kid ourselves about it. Aiming to be like the early church has plenty of pitfalls too and im not sure its really a way to avoid tradition. When we think about it, as soon as we develop a system and routine and then stick to it, we have created tradition. Its just that our tradition is a new tradition! Perhaps therefore, there’s no problem in having traditions and methods but we need to be willing to change them when God calls. Thats the kind of church we see in Acts and if we want to be more like them then we must be innovators and experimentalists.
4. “Living by the Spirit” – We have an opportunity to be people who both live and love the traditions handed down to us AND to live by the Holy Spirit. The fear in many of our minds is that we would get stuck in the rut of tradition and lose the excitement we once had. Jesus called us into an amazing adventure with him, where each day is a new one, and THEN he sent us his Spirit so that we could live that way forever. The Holy Spirit allows us to see the past and appreciate, he gives us visions and dreams of what God wants to do in the future AND he leads us in a living relationship with God. Perhaps the tradition of the past and the life of the present are not so mutually exclusive?
I would love to hear your thoughts on tradition and discipleship – comment below…
(Apologies for my use of capitals, I got a bit excited as i wrote this)
edhodges
