derasha: tradition

This Thursday, we will have our third of four Mid-Week Teachings. The title is, "Tradition and Ash Wednesday." We will explore the beauty of the Body when each part functions using his or her gifts. Below is an excerpt from Chapter 03 of Derasha: This Thing Called Church Vol. 002.

03 Tradition

Getting to know your tradition often is eye opening. This was true for my wife as she discovered our family’s tradition. The Familia de Hidalgo was gathering for a reunion of sorts in Miami, Florida. Due to our schedule, my wife and I were not able to arrive until the party was in full swing. Our entrance was bound to be grand, but my wife had no idea.

As we walked into the room, music was playing, and the chatter of Spanish was everywhere. The door closed behind us with a thud, and the music and chatter stopped. My Aunt Eva screamed, “Look who is here!” Everyone turned in unison and began screaming with excitement. Within seconds, we were surrounded by Cubans pinching us, kissing us and prodding us. They were all yelling things like “Usted es tan magnífico!” Lipstick was moving from their lips to our cheeks and foreheads at an alarming rate. Did I mention that my wife had never met any of these people?

While the entrance proved to be somewhat intense for my wife, she enjoyed the party. She heard stories about little Carlito (my Dad’s nickname). She would laugh, point at me and say, “That is you!” We ate black beans and rice, citrus marinated chicken and sipped Café Cubano. That day, she had a crash course in our tradition. Later that evening, we sat out by the hotel pool. As my wife commented on my family, she reflected how much my cousin was like my sister, my Dad was like me and how she understood how my Mom felt the first time she met the Hidalgo family. She was connecting the dots.

This is what tradition does; it connects the dots. As the Body of Christ, we need to be men and women who connect the dots. We need to point toward our heritage and celebrate who we are. We need those conversations in which we point and say, “That is what we do!”

Some churches however want to be known by what they are not. We have our list of things that make us distinctive. Our lists draw boundaries separating local congregations from others. Over the last five hundred years, the Church has chosen to embrace these divisions rather than celebrating who we are both in our past and in our present.

We have bought into rugged individualism. As individuals, we believe our experience within the church is private, and does not need to include others. The attitude of the individual is indicative of the attitude of the whole. We remain separate from one another and live out an individual faith that is particular to each person. Living this way makes it difficult to believe that all Christians share the same heritage.

For a Baptist to hear that a Catholic has the same historical roots would be like meeting a guy you have never seen who tells you that he is your brother. That would complicate the world we have come to know and presently live in. We could only make sense of a new brother by learning where he is from and telling him where we are from. The role of tradition is to tell us where we are from.