Traditions in relation to Christian faith

 “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.”-Isaiah 1:13 NIV

Being the member of Anglican Church, we are no stranger to elaborated traditions and practices in the worship. The quoted verse above surely ring a bell in any of us who are the adherent to Anglican ways of worship. In West Malaysia, the Anglicans are jokingly called “those with the smells and bells” (because of our practices of using incense and ringing the bells). It is not a surprise to hear other churches to quote the above verse or any other similar verses throughout the Bible to prove the point that Anglicans are not Christian.

In order to understand the meaning behind what seemingly out-to-date traditions and practices, it is advisable that you are to keep an open mind as you read through this article. As usual, I would love to begin with a question, why we do what we do? First, we must understand on what ground we Anglican stands. The basic and fundamental tenets of Anglicanism would be Scripture, Tradition, and Reason -- what is known to be “three-legged-stool”. The idea is to have a balance between three of these elements. While Scripture is the fundamental truth that influence our belief, so does the tradition and reason would. In other words, one is not above the other, hence, the three-legged stool (try to imagine having a stool that has a longer leg than the other legs - the result would be disaster).

What we will focus on is the tradition. Because Christianity as a religion is not a new religion but has already been around since 2000 years ago, and within that lengthy years, it is quite understandable that we carried along with us some traditions and practices since the first church by the apostles. One tradition that we (and any other church) still practice to this day of age is the reading of the word of God - the Bible. As you can see, tradition is not merely the elaborated rituals but also the more subtle expression of faith such as praying and Scripture reading.  Practices practice repetitively over the time will become a governing identity of a community - a tradition.

But of course, along the line, the argument would be, “if it is not from the Bible, it is a heresy.” That itself is over-generalization of the fact that just because the Bible does not spell it out, we should count it out. Let us not forget that the word “Trinity” itself is non-existent in the Bible, however, the concept does (does it make the Trinity a heretical doctrine?). Hence, the best approach to understand the traditions and practices within the fabric of faith is to observe the concept interwoven within the Scriptures.

Let us take a look from the book that started it all, the book of Leviticus. The central theology represented in this book is the call for God’s people to be holy because God is holy (11:44). In the concept of holiness of God, the simplest way to digest it is by imagining the concept of royal court. In Malaysia, we are blessed to have a King of whom we can relate to this concept. Any commoner is not permitted to come before the King and likewise the King is not suppose to leave his throne of glory otherwise he will “mencemar duli” or desecrating of his royal throne. Now, this may sounds overboard, but some nations does look up to their monarch in such reverence. Putting into a perspective, if such reverence towards the sovereign of a country is well reserved, how much more it would be towards the Sovereign Lord of Heaven.

Now, as we understood the holiness of a monarch mirror the holiness of God, it will be easier for us to understand the logic behinds elaborated rituals of approaching Holy God (as well as His holy people). Let us review one of the Levitical’s law as an example.

“13 ‘ “If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realise their guilt 14 and the sin they committed becomes known, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the tent of meeting. 15 The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. 16 Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. 17 He shall dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times in front of the curtain. 18 He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, 20 and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. 21 Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the community.”

There are three things to take note of on this passage. First, the sin or offense being specified. Second, the governing law or code to decides on its penalty. And the third, the elaborated and detailed requirements in order to pay for the offense by the guilty party towards the victim. In this case, the people of Israel being the guilty party and God is the victim.

Reading through the civil laws written in the Book of Leviticus, almost every laws written follow the same pattern. As mentioned earlier, the people of God called to be holy because God is holy or set apart from any other gods around them. To desecrate God’s holiness, is to pronounce death upon oneself. However, as cruel as it may sounds, the fundamental character of God is love. So, God requires a recompense for the offense done. Within this sphere of holiness and love, the concept of sacrifice introduced. It is good to take note here that sacrificial system is not a foreign idea to the people of God as it was first done by Noah, followed by their forefather, Abraham and his descendants.

But, what difference  does the sacrifice to the LORD (YHWH) made compare to the other gods? Short answer would be; restoration. What is the thing that need to be restored? Relationship. Other gods, take for example the Philistine’s god, Dagon, would take the sacrifice to “bless” the journey of the seamen as well as good fortune upon return. Likewise, the Canaanite’s god, Baal, will take the sacrifice of the people to “bless” them with rain and good returns of harvest. The distorted understanding of sacrifice spreads far and wide in the Asia Minor regions has one thing in common; appeasing gods for blessings.

Back to Israelite’s sacrificial system, it is to restore the relationship with God - perfected by Jesus in His first coming. As fore-mentioned, the people of God is the guilty party while God is the victim. The result of the offense caused a rift in relationship between God and His people. According to the holiness of God, the offense warrant them a death penalty. But, the God as love is also a governing character of God within that law, He wants the broken relationship to be restored. Same goes to the relationship between the people and the land  as reflected in other laws. Because of this the sacrificial system to YHWH is far different than to other gods. It is not to appease Him so not to bring calamity, but to bring the whole community in the right relationship again with Him Who has rescued them from slavery. Which is why the phrase “I am the LORD” repeated many times in this book following the commanding of the law -- to highlight the non-negotiable term of relationship between the Master (YHWH) and His servants (the people of Israel).

So, what does it has to do with us in these days of age then? We know for sure that God does not need any sacrifice anymore on the merits of first, there is no longer a visible temple with the Ark of Covenant as a symbol to offer the sacrifice to, and second, because the sacrifice has been done and paid fully through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Then, why we still practicing the traditions (especially the usage of incense as well as the Holy Communion)? Simple; we practice it as a remembrance, not as the mean to pay for our offenses. Holy Communion, for example, in the Liturgy itself specifically mentioned, “Do this in remembrance of me”, echoing the word of our Lord in Luke 22:19.

Understanding human’s short-memory spans, it is quite understandable why God instructed for His law to be remembered; through practices. Technically, most of the things that we remember, or things that defined us embodied through our muscle-memories. Our ability to drive, to cycle, to swim, or even to read and sing. Through that natural and unique human nature, God uses that to foster the relationship with His people; just as the mother caressing the hair of her newborn child in love, God is caressing us in love with elaborated and detailed sensory exercises.

By taking part in those elaborated traditions and rituals, we are taking part in that remembering exercise that God still caressing us with love; a reminder to us that He is our Saviour and we are His redeemed people. But, remember, we are not offering the sacrifice to atone for our sins, but rather to participate in the physical expression of reminding ourselves of God’s finished work of salvation as well as to etch it in our mind that, as much as God is love, God is still holy. And when we approach someone holy (remember the concept of approaching a King), we should not approach Him in a manner that would mock or belittle Him. On the flip-side of it, we should not be governed by fear so much so that by missing the prescribed steps, we would incur God’s wrath. The rule of thumb here is, do it as remembrance to approach the One and Holy God.

In conclusion, in oppose to the popular belief that we should be pragmatic in running the church, while it is good that we surf along the wave of contemporary than to swim against the current, rejecting traditions on the merit of unverified secondary opinions is unfair to the church traditions that has stood for centuries, that has proven to be helpful in the propagation of the gospel. Likewise, to uphold it blindly without considering the true meaning of it being practice too means nothing. I believe that the relationship of God begin in learning of who He is through His word, the traditions that personified it, as well as the reasons that support it. Ultimately, His word is the supreme authority, but the church tradition is the helpful crutches for the crippled in faith or a stroller for the infants in faith. It should go hand in hand as the tools for our pilgrimage. 

Photo credit to Atlanta Reformation Fellowship