Reading with the Saints
Reflections on the Wesleyan Quadrilateral - Tradition
August 25, 2024
2 Thessalonians 2:15, Hebrews 12:1, Romans 15:4, Matthew 28:19-20
see also how Jesus uses tradition - "You have heard"
Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-45
So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold on to the traditions we taught you, whether we taught you in person or through our letter.
2 Thessalonians 2:15
Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through
endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures.Romans 15:4
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Whether we come from a religious family or not, we all grow up with traditions. Perhaps we remember family traditions around holidays, birthdays, trips, or other special occasions. Maybe it was as simple as Sunday dinner at a family member’s home or a weekend movie or game night. No matter how small or elaborate, our traditions say a lot about what our family most values and those values have shaped much of our lives.
In addition to family traditions, we also have religious traditions. For some, that tradition may simply be that you didn’t go to church at all, but maybe a grandparent or other family member had a church at some point. For others, it may have just been going to church on Christmas or Easter, or perhaps you were one of those who was in church every time the door was open. Regardless of how often or how little you were in church, you no doubt learned something about faith from members of your family or from your church. Some of those traditions may have given you a negative view of faith or religion, others may have been very positive. But again, all of these religious experiences helped form our value systems and our faith or lack-there-of.
My own religious tradition was a mixed bag. I grew up in the Catholic church and hated it, but I didn’t know there was anything else. As a teenager I was “saved” in a Baptist church. As a college student and young adult I branched out to a number of different denominations and finally landed in a United Methodist Church when I took a job as a part time youth pastor in 2003. I chose to remain United Methodist for a many reasons, but when I look back on my religious background, I am deeply aware of the mixture of pain and blessing from each congregation and tradition. Some things I have grown beyond and others that I once rejected I have come to appreciate more deeply in more recent years.
Just as our own religious experiences are part of our tradition, so the larger tradition of church history has shaped our denominations and even much of our culture. No matter how fresh or modern a church might be, it is still rooted in a long tradition of faithful saints who have gone before us. We are not the first to study the Bible, to worship God, or to have a relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit, and we will not be the last.
In all of our efforts as humans to make our mark on the world and leave our legacy, it is easy to forget that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. As we study the scriptures, we can find tremendous blessing and wisdom in walking with the Saints who have gone before us, both ancient and recent.
We cannot escape it.
The tradition is part of who we are.
The question is, how will we allow it to teach us, to shape us, and to bless our lives?