Tradition vs Change

You would think growing up in the Catholic church that my first experience of a battle over tradition or change would have happened while at Mass or youth group. Surprisingly the first time I remember starting to ponder over why something has to be done in the traditional way was during a yearbook meeting. I was a freshman in High School and getting briefed on how the yearbook runs. As I listened things seemed to be very inefficient and hierarchical. I challenged those perceptions and traditions. I was instantly shut down by the group and dismissed for not understanding.

It was then I started to wonder why many traditions were not up for debate. I remember ranting and raving at home (possibly in my room listening to really loud rap) about if the tradition was so good and had such a good reason then someone should be able to explain it to me. When the answer came back from the group "that's just how we do it!" I was left with the frustration of not understanding and lack of adjustment to an outdated system.

Jumping ahead I have seen this time and again throughout churches, institutions and groups. I questioned things at the Catholic church. Wondering if the group can learn from outside sources and new ideas in ministry. Instead of getting welcomed into the traditions and had them explained I was dismissed as not knowing enough. Instead of facing the questions and thinking through why we do things they way we do in the catholic church I worked at the leadership tried to find ways to not examine the basis/foundation behind the traditions. Not all were this way at the Catholic church. One co-worker would often discuss the traditions with me and debate and disagree with many of them.

I find myself in the middle of tradition and change, which seems to put me at odds with both sides in any discussion. Any tradition should withstand questioning and have a clear purpose of why we still hold to this custom. If not then it should be up for adjustment or change. Changing systems, operations, practices, or other beliefs should not come easy either. To change things just to try something new lacks the same purpose that keeping a tradition "just cause" does.

While there are millions of examples I have experienced first hand I am going to look at two of them:

The first is a Christmas Eve worship service that we have at my church. This service has been around for decades. Essentially the service is done in all darkness and families come and go as they please. The worship team here has taken a great step in examining this practice and asking the hard questions. For many this is difficult because the tradition has become so important to them. It has become sacred, which is great!

The worship team, just last meeting started asking why do we have this service. Whom and what is this service serving? Does it fit our overall vision for the church? This is exactly the dialogue that I believe all traditions should face. We must be able to understand the purpose, vision, and mission of any tradition. When this dialogue continues the group may decide to keep everything the same. If so they will have done so with a clearer purpose of why and what we are accomplishing with this tradition.

The second one that comes to mind recently is a youth team that I have just joined as a leader. The youth and past leaders have established a many traditions and customs within the group. The biggest one is that the whole groups purpose, as it stands now, is to plan one retreat and that is it. Knowing the mission of the group I have started to raise the question of why are we not aiming for more. The group is open to trying to serve God through leading other aspects but are shy (and exhausted) from planning. We will see how the process of change works here as the group has already agreed to raise the bar, yet very reluctantly.

There are many other places we see this battle played out. Politics is one where this has become a major battle from change to the tradition of keeping "my America" the way I remember it. No matter the tradition being changed or kept I believe we should always, ALWAYS, be able to explain and understand why we have things the way they are. If we don't know why a tradition is in place then its probably time to examine it and adjust to our changing culture.