Tradition or Traditionalism?
- davidwperk
- Jan 17
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, January 17, 2025
The week of the first Sunday after the Epiphany
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
21 ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 942):
AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22
Isa. 42:(1-9)10-17; Eph. 3:1-13; Mark 2:13-22
Today we celebrate the Feast of Antony of Egypt. (See below.)
David's Reflections
Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan once said, "Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." *
How do we relate the traditions of the past to the present moment? Jesus ran headlong into traditionalism in the religious leaders. His healings on the Sabbath were consistent with the idea that the future kingdom of God would be a perpetual Sabbath and that God worked to heal and make whole on that day. (See Hebrews 3 for the concept of God’s future kingly rule as a sabbath rest.)
The religious leaders' efforts to protect the traditions of the Sabbath had turned it from the living faith of the dead to the dead faith of the living. They had thirty-nine categories of work forbidden on that day, including healing (except under certain circumstances). Jesus sought to renew Sabbath observance, but he collided with their vehement resistance.
Jesus' eating with social and religious outcasts was consistent with the image of God as seeking love, a God who stretched the boundaries of acceptance and inclusion out of mercy; yet, he ran afoul of the religious establishment with its traditions of clean and unclean and its traditional ways of maintaining boundaries until the unclean responded appropriately to the traditions.
The proverbial sayings at the end of the passage draw sharp visual images. New wine fermenting in previously used wineskins that had lost their elasticity would rupture the tired, nonelastic skins as it fermented. New, unwashed, unshrunk patches sown on old, shrunk cloth would tear apart the older garment when washed.
I once heard an Episcopal layperson express their love for the 1928 Prayer Book by saying, “The 1928 Prayer Book is the language of heaven.” Actually, of the American Prayer Books, 1928 was less than the best. And, to limit worship strictly to the English of the 17th. Century is not true to the spirit of Anglicanism, which began using the vernacular of the day in 1549. To freeze the language of worship in a past expression of a language violates that Anglican tradition of worship in the language of the day.
A new or nontraditional church can create tensions in the religious community. The worship style, true to the spirit of the Anglican way, will seek to relate to the local culture and to the demographic it serves. That worship may look alien to others who have been worshipping in a way they see as true to the tradition. Yet, if the worship follows the structure of the liturgy, it may be that new patch or that new wine.
A church that pitches itself to the unbelieving and unchurched in a community will be seeker sensitive, making its liturgy more fully accessible and understandable to those unfamiliar with it's structure and flow. Some may see that worship as untrue to the prayer book if the entire service is in print or if projection is used to make the service easier to follow. Yet, that may be the new wine and the new patch.
I hope that we will maintain the courage of our convictions to honor the living traditions of our heritage and not to be bound by traditionalism, while maintaining loving relationships even with those who might be detractors. The freedom and resources to attempt a new or nontraditional church arises from that very traditional base, a living expression of Pelikan’s understanding. "Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."
*Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition (New Haven, CN: Yale UP, 1984), p. 65.
Collect of the Day, First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord
Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (BCP, 214)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Antony of Egypt, monastic (died 17 Jan 356 CE?).
Collect of the Feast of Antony of Egypt
O God, as you by your Holy Spirit enabled your servant Antony to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; so give us grace to follow you with pure hearts and minds, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies' sake. Amen. (BCP, 123)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
A Collect for Mission
Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover of souls: Have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 280)
Daily Office Gospel, Mark 2:13-22
2:13 Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. 15And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. 16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ 19Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21 ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
Comments