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What price tradition
By
the Revd David BurgessThere’s rarely a lukewarm response to this word; we either love tradition or hate it.
Tradition is double-edged. It reinforces the pride and the sense of history of a group, organisation, or nation. It’s also something that makes demands on those who wish or claim to adhere to it. If you don’t live by what tradition requires, you can’t truly claim to value it or be a part of it. Tradition isn’t a passive thing.
Our Church tradition is something that we cherish. We’re in the fortunate position of being one of the earlier countries to be Christianised (at least in part), and one of the first Reformed denominations to formalise its worship – in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662. This provides the vital bedrock upon which we base our Church life.
The Prayer Book is a wonderful thing. It is simple but profound and its language and concepts are such that it has been carried forward as the book of the Church of England right through to the present day.
But it’s easy for tradition simply to become “what I like”. And when I only judge my tradition by what I like, other – necessary – parts of it may diminish or may be ignored.
Think about this. How well do you really know your tradition? The Prayer Book has just over 700 pages in it, beginning with a detailed preface outlining the conduct and government of the Church of England and ending with the Table of Kindred and Affinity. There’s a lot to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest”.
My question for traditionalists (amongst whom I count myself) is this: How does your own faith measure against the traditions you claim to treasure? Have you tested it against, say, the requirements that the Communion service makes on worshippers prior to the Confession, or alongside the Creeds or the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion?
The Prayer Book is a deeply spiritual, biblical and evangelical volume. It speaks to us of God’s love, of the saving work of Jesus, and of our response of faith. It looks back to the Bible at every possible turn for what it wants to convey and it looks forward to express faith in worship. That’s the true tradition of the Church of England.
But not to use simply “as I like”; not to pick and choose; not to enjoy it for myself without considering its requirements; not to impose it on others who haven’t been fortunate enough to have been immersed in it from a young age; not to insist on it as the sole means by which we communicate our faith to those around us; not to use its example to denigrate other forms of worship; not to turn the formal into the fossilised. To do these things is actually to violate the Church’s tradition, not to support it.
I hope that even those who are thoroughly at home and at ease with our Church traditions will be encouraged to look afresh at them. Standing our ground, knowing our traditions and their reasons for existing, and being able to express them in an appropriate and relevant way, will stand them and us in good stead for the future.
Stop press - since David wrote the above item
The Revd David Burgess was taken ill outside Lee Common School on Friday 21st October. He was taken by ambulance to Stoke Mandeville Hospital. It is expected that he will be away from his duties in the Hill-top Parishes for several months. Our thoughts are with his family.