Traditional Faith

Rector’s Rambling: August 2010

Over the past few days, I’ve been previewing the video tapes of the Anglican-Orthodox dialogue held last year at Nashotah House, one of our Episcopal Seminaries. From time to time, a singular sentiment is voiced by both the Anglican and the Orthodox speakers at the conference. They point out that we in the modern west are so focused on being either liberal or conservative, when the real question for us liturgical Christians ought to be whether or not we are traditional. Political questions and issues come and go. Interpretive nuances drop in and out of style with distressing frequency. But the traditional faith received and lived on a daily basis by Christians has remained pretty constant through the ages. Do I believe that in the time of my need, God loved me so much that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin, and thereby broke into a fallen world that I (and we) might be reconciled to God Himself? Do I believe that in a great act of love, this same Jesus died to enable that reconciliation? Do I believe that after His death, he was resurrected and ascended into heaven thereby proclaiming the triumph of God’s plan of love on my behalf? Do I believe that He is currently seated at the right hand of the Father praying for me before I even know what to ask? Do I believe that God has sent the Holy Spirit, the blessed third person of the Holy Trinity, into our world and into my life that I might be able to live in obedience to His way, which I could never have done on my own? Is my community of faith constituted in such a way that our worship proclaims these truths to all the world, and inspires me to live for others even as Christ lived for me? Such a faith, and only such a faith, is properly deemed “Traditional.”
I encourage everyone at St. John’s to consider this call to traditional faith. At the heart of this challenge is the decision to take control of our own destiny by framing our own questions and blazing our own paths. The world seems to always attempt to set our agendas and define the nature of our faith journey. But what would happen if we, the people of God, simply walked away from the world’s categories and priorities and determined to live the traditional Christian faith? What would the result be if we determined to simply believe that God came to save us from ourselves because He loves us so very, very much, and then nurtured ourselves through worship as we reached out to a desperate world in acts of kindness, mercy, and predictable constancy? What would happen if the love of God flowed through us to all creation even as it flowed through Jesus when He was incarnate in this world?
Several basic steps come to mind to enable our pursuit of such a reality at St. John’s:
1. Let us commit to attend upon the word and sacrament with weekly regularity, either here or wherever we may be traveling. As we receive the bread and the wine, God gives us a direct infusion of His enabling grace for the week to come, and He draws us closer to himself and to each other.
2. Let us consider well and seriously the liturgy. Do I truly believe the attributes of God that I sing in hymns and Psalms? Do I believe that the Scripture readings and the Sermon (which ought to explain and apply those scriptures to my life) are God’s authentic Word to me, and to all of us? Do I believe the articles of the Creed to have really happened? Do I honestly believe that I need to confess my sins to God and receive His forgiveness? Do I believe that a loving God really does hear my prayers and answer them in ways that are best for me and for those I love? Is the passing of the peace just a formality, or do I see it as an opportunity to be reconciled to some member of our parish from whom I have been estranged? Do I believe that by receiving the Holy Communion, I am participating in the great foretaste of the marriage feast of the Lamb, stepping into the heavenly court, and proclaiming my unity with God’s people in every age and every land?
3. Let us examine our lives to insure that our actions and attitudes match what we profess in worship. Do we go forth from the Eucharist to remember the poor, to pray for the sick, and to be kind to one another?
I am sure there is more, but this is enough for now. Let us all commit to at least consider the keeping of that faith we have received, that Traditional Faith to which we are called. I do believe that as we do this thing, God will be pleased, and the kingdom of heaven will break forth among us in ways we could never imagine.
Faithfully,
Bill+