Wk 9: What Part of "Doing Faith" Is Part of You?
The Skeptic Framework > Tradition
The “T” in Skeptic: Tradition
In prior articles, I discussed the first three lenses of the Skeptic Framework (Scripture, Knowledge, Personal Experience). In this article, we’ll take a look at the next one: Tradition.
Traditions are especially important to spiritual seekers. They can sometimes be the spark that initially draws us to a particular faith because they speak to us in both physical and spiritual ways.
When you think about it, tradition has the most visceral hold on us of any aspect of our personal faith. It’s not just about believing, it’s about doing—about doing regularly. And it involves all the senses.
Aspects of Tradition
Tradition encompasses the surroundings in which we meet and worship. Where is it? What is the building like, if there even is one? What is on the walls, the floors, the altar, the podium, hanging from the ceiling?
Tradition dictates what songs we sing. Contemporary or traditional music? Praise band or pipe organ or cantor? Lyrics that some view as another book of scripture, a reflection of current theology.
And what about smells? Is there incense smoke, a faint scent of candle, fresh mountain air?
Are there tastes? Coffee before the service? Bread and wine? Challah? Potluck after the service?
And, last but not least, the gentle touches, handshakes, hugs. The heft of the scriptures or hymnals or newsletters or handbills.
Of course, in addition to the senses, Tradition encompasses how things work.
Where and when and for what purpose do we meet?
Who is appointed to lead?
Who can participate in the various parts of worship?
What does it take to become a full-fledged member of the community?
Often, when we leave a faith community for whatever reason, the traditions are what we grieve the most. Perhaps it’s because they are so specific to any one community, not replicated in exactly the same way anywhere else.
Steve’s Take on Tradition
In his seminal video, Ways of Discovering God’s Will, Community of Christ President Steve Veazey states that the lens of Tradition includes beliefs, wisdom, practices, scripture, music, history, official interpretations, and denominational policies.
He warns that we should respect tradition, but not be unduly bound by it when it no longer fits our needs.
Editorial Comment
The lens of Continuing Revelation (to be discussed in a future week) means that prophet-presidents of Community of Christ (e.g., Steve Veazey) periodically receive messages from God for the benefit of the church. In Steve’s comment about tradition, he was referencing this message, received by his predecessor, W. Grant McMurray, in 2000.
Be respectful of tradition. Do not fail to listen attentively to the telling of the sacred story, for the story of scripture and of faith empowers and illuminates. But neither be captive to time-bound formulas and procedures. Remember that instruction given in former years is applicable in principle and must be measured against the needs of a growing church, in accordance with the prayerful direction of the spiritual authorities and the consent of the people. — Community of Christ. Doctrine and Covenants 161:5a.
This scripture foreshadowed a number of controversial changes to CofC policies in the last twenty-five years, including these:
Communion is now “open” (i.e., the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is not limited to members of our denomination)
Individual countries are permitted to establish policies to allow LGBTQ+ individuals to be married in a religious service and to be ordained
Sacraments are permitted to be performed in online settings
As with all changes to tradition, some members have accepted the changes and some have not. It is always a painful process. And it has been a continuous process since mankind first met to worship.
Sermon Notes
Not unlike any other Christian minister, I applied the lens of Tradition in preparing for and delivering a sermon I published here on Substack in a two-part article: Have You Been Marginalized? Part 1 & Part 2.
Specifically, I researched the assigned scripture, I prepared my remarks, I stood at a pulpit to speak, and I delivered a mixture of exegesis (interpretation) and testimony—during a Sunday morning worship service in a church building. This process follows the tradition of weekly messages in my faith community and many others.
Editorial Comment
Although sermon preparation hasn’t changed much, other Sunday morning traditions in my small denomination have changed a great deal over the course of my seventy years of attendance. (My first visit was at the age of three weeks.)
One big change over my lifetime has been music. As a society, our taste in spiritual music has evolved right along with the secular (while still maintaining theologically bounded lyrics). In many churches, rock bands have replaced pipe organs. In mine, MP4’s have replaced a piano which replaced an electric organ.
Another big change is what we wear to services. For Christian women, this has evolved from my grandmother’s prim skirted-suit+hat+gloves+stockings+heels ensemble to my own modest-but-casual puffy-vest+flannel-shirt+blue-jeans+socks+walking-shoes outfit.
Most recently, services have gone online. The sermon I described above was presented in a hybrid service. COVID forced us online. Post-COVID, we offer in-person services in the church, and we simultaneously offer them as Zoom meetings.
Change is going to happen. And that’s okay.
The intent of sacred traditions is to bring us closer to the divine, not to maintain meaningless rigidity.
A Personal Story About Tradition
I stood with the congregation, preparing to sing the next hymn. My mother stood tall next to me. I’m not sure I could see over the back of the pew.
As she began to sing, so did I. I couldn’t yet read, but I had heard the hymn so many times in my 200-ish trips to church that I already knew all the words.
When I sing that hymn now, after maybe 3500 trips, I have to look at the hymnal. Not because I’ve forgotten. But because the lyrics were burned into my brain long before they were tweaked to be gender-neutral.
I suspect my brain will never overwrite the ones I learned so long ago.
Those old hymns—especially the zippy ones—are the part of “doing faith” that’s part of me. The delivery vehicle—organ, piano, guitar, bell choir, flute—doesn’t matter. The music and lyrics can sometimes bring tears to my eyes.
Another Personal Story About Tradition
Before my family made a decision to move from Pennsylvania to South Carolina in the late 1990s, we made an exploratory trip to see what the area was like. I made a special point of visiting the local Greenville SC congregation for a Sunday morning service.
As they entered the sanctuary for the first time, my two young sons were anxious about what this new church would be like. I could sense their discomfort and concern.
As we took our seats, I suggested they look around. “Look at the pulpit. Same church seal on the front of it. Look at the hymnal. Same as at home. Look at the bulletin you’re holding (where the order of worship was printed). Same cover as what you’d get at home.”
As their eyes followed mine around the room, the tension eased. Familiar traditions enveloped them. Changing to this new congregation would be hardly any change at all. The move South was on.
Prompts for the Lens of Tradition
Journal about your relationship to religious or spiritual traditions. (Prompts written in collaboration with OpenAI o3.)
Close your eyes and think back to your earliest memory of being in a spiritual or religious setting. Add as many details as you can recall, using all five senses. Reflect on why that particular moment has stayed with you until now.
Write two lists: (1) the religious rules or traditions you were explicitly taught, and (2) the unspoken rules or traditions you absorbed by osmosis. Which rule had the greatest impact on your sense of belonging or exclusion? How is it still impacting your faith?
Imagine you are curating a “time capsule of faith” for your future great-grandchild. You may include only three tangible objects that represent your spiritual lineage. What objects do you choose, and what stories or cautionary tales accompany each one?
Outline the evolution of one tradition through your family tree (e.g., holiday ritual, extent of involvement in religious activities, dietary or other restrictions). How has the tradition changed over time? What historical or cultural changes influenced the evolution? Where do you see resistance or grief?
Describe a tradition you once critiqued or dismissed that you now find yourself defending—or vice versa. What factors (relationships, scholarship, personal experience) contributed to the shift?
Identify a tradition from a faith or culture not your own that you are curious about—maybe even envious of. Speculate honestly about what draws you—mystery, aesthetics, community, perceived authenticity. Consider finding a way to experience this tradition.
The Takeaway
We all have our own spiritual traditions. They are a part of us. In writing the suggested prompts, I could only guess at what might be meaningful for you. Maybe they missed the mark. If so, please don’t feel constrained by what I asked you to consider.
I invite you to think broadly in terms of the encounters and events that have shaped you spiritually. Think about the events and encounters that brought you to where you are now, whether that’s in a place of deep faith, or in the midst of the dark night of the soul, or somewhere else entirely.
May you find that journey to be enlightening!
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