Wednesday, July 2, 2014

A birth and a death of a tradition

Back when I was a kid, I used to refer to traditions as Things you do over and over again that don't ultimately have any meaning.
Man, was I stupid.
In each realm I travel in - whether it's church, or youth or school or travel - traditions seem to become more and more important to me.
Almost three years ago, we started a Traditions service at Our Savior (not even the name could be traditional!), a church that prides itself on being the first church in the Missouri Synod to go all-in on contemporary worship back in the late 1990s. The "new" worship service would be based on the blue hymnals that we had lying around. It rose from a desire to meet the needs of a minority of our church that enjoyed worshiping with acoustic instruments and following the Divine Service (so-called). We also thought it would be a good alternative to the contemporary service, and hoped that it would attract others who had left their old Lutheran churches, but preferred to worship liturgically. As a church that wanted to be a hub for other churches, we also hoped that it would provide practice for deacon leaders who might find themselves leading a Lutheran church elsewhere.
After about a year, as we evolved into a worshiping culture, we decided to buy some of the new Lutheran Service Books, which had five different Liturgical Settings and a host of new hymns and ideas. For a traditional church, it was a pretty contemporary book.
While there were four regularly worshiping families (totaling about 15 people per week), the service never caught on to a wider audience, and so our last service will be Aug. 24, 2014, two weeks shy of our third anniversary.
Over the three years, we have developed a leadership from within our community, so that when I was away, I had two able helpers to lead service with even a gentle rise in quality from when I'm there. We have baptized four kids in our little church and provided an opportunity for many to sing some great hymns in our little room.
The reasons to end: The pressure of preaching three times in three hours is trying for any preacher. The extra time will allow both Pastor Brian and myself to accomplish some important ministry that we otherwise could not.
I called our church this week and told them the sad news. They understood why the church had decided to end the service, but it saddened them nevertheless.  I know how they feel. I like the world better knowing that there are people singing poetry that have withstood the test of time, who have provided a service of Word and Sacrament (in that order).
I know that I will miss choosing hymns that match up with the church calendar (even though our church does not.) I will miss chanting the kyrie, and singing "This is the Feast," and songs like "Beautiful Savior" and "Holy Holy Holy" and "Earth and All Stars." No, not songs, hymns. There's a difference. I can write a song.
It takes tradition to make a hymn.

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