Advent and Tradition

I grew up in a Christian home, and went to church, and did Christian things, but the kind of denomination we tended towards was, how do you say...? Loose. It was of the "come as you are" variety. Jeans are appropriate for Sunday services. We met in strip mall churches. Relationship, not religion. Liturgy was eyed warily. We preferred projectors over hymnbooks. We worshipped as the Spirit led.

There's nothing wrong with that, and in fact, probably very many things right. But I never really knew about the more structured face of Christianity until I
1. Visited an Eastern Orthodox church and thought, what is with the icons and the ceremony? And then someone explained them to me. And
2. Visited Palestine/Israel: my inner (and unspoken) disdain at the gaudiness of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was mildly rebuked by someone's words, "We Protestants might think this is gaudy... but remember that whenever God builds himself a house, He makes it pretty extravagant. Think about the Temple." Hmm. And
2. Went to college and met all these ... Catholics! And Episcopals! And people who knew about Lent! I didn't even know what Ash Wednesday was.

And occasionally I'd hear a snippet of older, non-American Christendom: a doxology, a hymn, a liturgical prayer, the Apostle's Creed, and I started to feel that there was a rich well of Christian history that I was somehow not a part of. I was always suspicious of the Catholics and their traditions, liturgy, religion. Episcopals, too. Excess ceremony! I think it had just been subtley instilled in me. Then I discovered G.K Chesterton, Catholic. St. Thomas More, Catholic. Tolkien, Catholic. C.S. Lewis, Anglican. Hmm.

I studied in Jordan in 2003 and happened to be there during the month of Ramadan. When people asked me, a Christian, about our religious traditions, I was a little stumped. We have Christmas, yes. And Easter! My favorite! Other than that, I said, we don't...really...do much. I mean, we're religious, but not...scripted. I noticed also that Arab Christians, those I worked with in Palestine and met in Jordan, seemed to have a better grasp on church history somehow, like they had found significance in tradition. Maybe they didn't focus on specifics, maybe they didn't know where the tradition came from, but it was there nonetheless.

I think we are a race of ritual. There is a reason we have seasons, feast days, holidays. Why shouldn't the church be the same? Why are we (many among us, anyway) so worked up over the fight for allowing Nativity Scenes in public places while forgetting the rest of the traditional church year? Christmas has been commercialized, of course (anyone up for another round of chesnuts roasting on an open fire...? Anyone?) but so what? Does that mean we can't celebrate the birth of Christ? And is Christmas itself the important thing, or is it the season as part of the church year? The fact that we have this specific time, each year, to focus on the observation of our faith? The Christian church has long used the seasons of the year as an opportunity for festivals and holidays, sacred time set aside to worship God as the Lord of life. It's deeper than just reading the Christmas story from Luke before you open your presents.

I'm not Catholic for a few reasons: transubstantiation and the exalted status of Mary, to name two. I think the Reformation was a great idea. Martin Luther was fantastic. But let's not throw the baby out with the bath water: hundreds of years of Church history has to count for something: another way to celebrate Jesus, another way to tell people about our faith, a deeper understanding of that great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 11:1.) Ritual is not always bad. Icons are not always idols. Liturgy is not always passion-less. They are but tools to focus your attentions on Him--tools that can be misused, of course, but you shouldn't shun something simply because it can be misused.



So what, you say? Yesterday was the beginning of Advent and the beginning, therefore, of the church year. I think I'll celebrate with others this year-or at least glean some insight from others observing Advent. Happy new year!