Reforming Reformation

This comment was left in response to my previous blog, Tradition!  I didn't want anyone to miss it, so here it is as a post.   - Jamie

When I think of "tradition" I have a mixed reaction. On the one hand having tradition leaves me feeling comfortable with the familiar. Some things in my Christian experience have continued to nourish me and draw me closer to who God is- i.e. quiet prayer, meditative walks, an my familiar way of taking communion (I grew up Episcopal). And yet for me, I also find myself not wanting to get TOO comfortable, for it is then that I miss a fresh, new face of who God is. I am struck with the statement of Martin Luther when commenting on what to call "The Reformation," where he said, "the Church should never stop reforming." As I think of my own personal theology, I have found myself "reforming my beliefs." Instead of upholding the traditional view of women in the church setting, through the years my view of women in church has expanded beyond the bounds of traditional roles. That's just one example. I suppose those areas in my life that have "reformed" flow directly out of my encounters with God, much like Jacob wrestling with the God-man in the middle of the night.

At the same time, it is a difficult task to hold both the old and new. Again, ambivalence- the both/and, that place where I try to keep a tension of both the old and the new.

-sailbluewater (aka Greg Malone)