Tradition or Tradition, You Choose… by Katie Kilgore

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 (ESV)

I am currently reading a text called Who Stole My Church.  The author, Gordon MacDonald, speaks about a church being so filled with tradition and thoughts of the way we have always done this or that that our vision and need for reaching the lost gets lost.  MacDonald discusses the essential need for change in order to reach non-believers and how we get stuck in the same ol’ same ol’.

MacDonald says, “Tradition is a stage of shelf life where people do things over and over again but have no idea why.  They’ve lost their memory of the original need and vision.  You could say they’ve become addicted to institutional life and keep doing things over and over again without really asking why.  And to stop doing those things would be like going through withdrawal.  Church wise, it’s the moment when the insiders – the folks who have always been there – see themselves as more important than the people outside the church whom we were supposed to be reaching.”

So, I must ask, does this tradition become like a god set before us as our idol, our “only way,” our tainted vision?  I contend that this tradition, in fact, takes on a life form of its own, a monster, a force of great strength, the tradition becomes our god.  I would even say that we become so fixated on serving this god of tradition that we lose sight of anything beyond the walls of our church, we concentrate on ourselves.  We are now focused inward, which is exactly where Satan wants us to be.

Does any of this sound familiar to your current church situation?  It is sad, but true, our god of tradition takes on more conversation, more energy, and many more efforts than the God whom we are supposed to be worshiping.  We must choose to put aside our traditional mind-set, our opinions of “this is the way it should or shouldn't be done,” and choose to worship God, the one true living God.

Dear Lord,

Please help me to see when tradition is becoming a god and is idolized before you.  Help me to see your guidance for when and where change is needed in order for your vision and your needs to be met in our congregation, but even further, beyond the four walls of our church building.  Help us Father not to allow this god of tradition or any other god to be put before You.

Amen