Sisters and Brothers in Christ

Jaraoslav Pelikan once said, "Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." That quote really resonated with me given the preliminary results from the Listening Canvass. The area it resonated the most concerned Christian Education at The Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

"Traditionalism" is easily identified by the phrase, "But we have always done it that way." Of course this implies a rut and ruts can be comfortable and predictable while change and evolution can be perceived as a scary path into the unknown.

Several lay people at St. Mary’s have recognized that our Christian Education program needed to evolve and change if it is to pass on to our children the living Tradition of Christian Faith.

At the Feast of Pentecost we celebrate the infusion of our Tradition with the Holy Breath or Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that vivifies and animates the Christian foundation on which we stand and from which we derive our meaning, ethics, and morals. The people who are working hard on revivifying Christian Education at St. Mary’s are agents of Holy Breath for they are infusing new life into a wobbly and weak program. However, they cannot do it all by themselves.

If the Christian Education program at St. Mary’s for children and adults is to be a Living Tradition it will take your effort as well. The best programming in the diocese will fail without commitment. As a parish we have to be willing to give Christian Education a high priority in regards to our support, time, and effort. That ranges from seeing that our children attend Sunday School in a consistent manner to setting an example of the importance of continuing Christian Education by taking advantage of Adult Christian Education programming next fall.

Ignorance leads to traditionalism and dead faith. A faith that is alive is a faith that is informed and educated. Many people in this parish have given hours of time so our Christian Education programs insure that the faith of those who went before us continues to live today and tomorrow. Will you join their effort and give them your support?

 

Joel t