Pilgrim Soldier

One of the biggest problems I think we continue to face within the Church is the traditionalism that is so destructive to the Gospel message. I recently read a blog post that touched on the subject from a viewpoint of liturgy and worship, but it made me think about how traditionalism actually acts to hamper mission.

Maggi Dawn, who wrote the piece says this at one point:

At the same time, though, there are aspects of our tradition that are not as traditional as you might suppose. As Anglicans, we are famous for our “Choral Tradition” – something so well established we usually never question it as the backbone of our worship. Yet this form of worship is significantly different now than it was a couple of centuries ago. Much of the music we now consider standard is actually very young. And the use of the organ in Church is a surprisingly modern innovation. At one time parish churches had a musicians’ gallery where strings and wind instruments were played, and singers would lead. When the first pipe organs were installed in Churches there was outrage! Letters were written, and petitions made against this modern innovation that was (so it seemed at the time) incapable of conveying the beauty of worship,. Yet gradually it was recognised that the grandeur of the pipe organ offered a new and apt way of sounding the praises of God.

Of course the argument over styles of worship is one of the favourite battles of the traditionalist elements within the church. We have them in The Salvation Army, and the Anglicans have them. In fact I remember a situation from my time working for the Anglican Communion when a colleague was lambasting ‘happy-clappy’ worship yet when their style of worship was described as ‘bells and smells’ they were horrified by such a disgraceful attack on the way God had spoken to them on numerous occasions!

Traditionalism tends to want to keep the status quo. It seems that its scared of anything new; anything that could alter that status quo! The saddest thing is that they put so much energy into defending their position and end polarising the views into either ‘you’re with us or you’re against us’ type attitudes. This always hampers what is really important and that’s growing as disciples and reaching out to make new ones!