Tradition

On Sunday, I am going to be installed as the Associate Pastor at Christus Victor Lutheran Church. I have struggled with what it means to be a pastor in the ELCA. The organized Church is not without sin. Many people have been hurt by organized religion and now I am immersing myself as a leader in organized religion. So, I feel in a paradox. I fear becoming a part of a system that some people run from and those are the people I want to reach out to with Christ's love. This paradox makes me rethink what it means to be a pastor.

A pastor is called to preach the Word and administer the sacraments. In the Lutheran church the sacraments are Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. These sacramental traditions have been carried down through many generations. It is through these traditions that we experience God, God with us.

The reality is that church provides a space for us to live out a tradition that helps us experience God. Tradition is much larger than an experience. Tradition is something that we become a part of that was around before us. Tradition will be around after us. It is something that unites the universal church.

Holy Communion and Baptism are traditions or liturgy at the core. The creeds, theories, text and prayers we say in worship were formed to help worshipers understand Baptism, not Baptism being created to help understand the creeds and prayers. It was the community’s regular act of Communion and Baptism (liturgy) that brought about a theology to help understand these encounters with the living God.

So, though organized Church is not without sin. I hope and pray that I stay grounded in sacramental tradition. It is then that I am honored to be a leader helping to bring about encounters with the living God.