“Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.”
-Jaroslav Pelikan
It seems to me that the Bible is used by some Christians not to begin a discussion of the Divine…but to end it, often before the conversation has even started. It is not used as the starting point of what it means to be human…it is the end of that discussion.
I didn’t stop attending one style of worship service and start attending another style of service because I was tired of hymns, orthodox liturgy, a sufficiently reverent praising of God, monotonous reading exercises* and prudently non-controversial sermon topics. I started attending another style of worship because I was tired of only hymns, orthodox liturgy, a sufficiently reverent praising of God, monotonous reading exercises and prudently non-controversial sermon topics.
Ever heard the saying that you’ll become just like your parents? I think that sentiment is true for the contemporary “children” of traditional services as well. There’s nothing wrong with being like your parents, but I’ll bet my parents had grander hopes than leaving and EXACT copy of themselves. I KNOW and PRAY that my kids don’t settle for my weaknesses, much less erect alters to them.