Tradition!

This year I decided to take part in Lent and I must say I have come to some new conclusions about the practice.  Now I know there are some of us who come from denominations that for whatever reason don’t participate in it, but I want to use my Lenten observations as a means to look at how we Christians should approach our traditions.  Of course it would not be terrible if it also helped us discern what traditions were worth keeping and what are worth abandoning.   

Nevertheless, in its historical setting Lent was practiced in the days and weeks leading up to someone’s baptism in which each person would prepare themselves via confession, prayerful solitude, fasting and so forth before the public declaration of their faith.  However, Lent today is different.  It is now an communal activity practiced annually with the same reflective aims, yet it has become more of a time to daringly give up something cherished (i.e. food, unnecessary spending, social media etc..) between point A (Ash Wednesday) and point B (Easter Sunday). This then raises the question, does anything really change?  Don’t get me wrong it is good that this has become an annual tradition for all Christians, but it is meant to be an avenue for drawing near to God while God draws near to us in a way that allows God to transfors the human-self toward inner Christ-likeness.  This is, as Judy Bauer says, for the purpose of spiritual growth in a way that carries us from an old state of being to a new way of living.[1]  Thus, some might see the Lenten tradition is reminiscent of the “spiritual disciplines”. The disciplines also seek to purposely enter into a place where we set aside external things in exchange for God’s direct renovation of our interior life.   

    

These observations have come from my going without while feeling like I am only going through the motions.  We so often fall into the trap of trying to rush through these things which I suspect happens because first, we have let the hurried aspect of our social-sphere demand it’s way in to the deepest part of inner spiritual self, and second, because we are blinded by illusory ideas that our spiritual health and nourishment has been met and requires nothing further.  However, grace and the sanctifying process say otherwise (Phil. 2:12-13). The truth is life with God is a journey that begins new every day requiring fresh submission and willful dependence on him.  Therefore whether we are participating in Lent, taking communion, or merely entering into daily prayer, it is all purposeful for growing us in God.          

      

Tradition as whole exists to pass-on “ideas, commitments, customs, manners, and celebrations of life in its complexity” all for the sake of memory and community.[2]   I believe Christian traditions do the same thing, but are intrinsically tied to a memory and community belonging to a larger picture of past, present and future divine outworkings which draw an entire creation home from exile (Ps. 96:10; Isa 56:7; Matt. 25:31-32; 28:19-20).  Therefore, all Christian traditions that refocus human thought and life back on our patient God and his work should never be approached arbitrarily or superficially. It is always working to further the development of new Christlike character in our personhood and thus requires active participation. In essence our aim should always be deeper communion with God. 

[1] Judy Bauer. Lent Easter Wisdom Nouwen (Ligouri, MO: Ligouri Publications 2005), viii.

[2] Richard E. Wentz. American Religious Traditions: The Shaping of Religion in the United States (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress 2003), xi.