Luther & tradition S


ometimes when Lutherans of the 21st century look back at what their forebears were doing in the 16th century, they get the mistaken impression that Mar-


tin Luther and his immediate colleagues and supporters had little good to say about traditions in the church. Because of later developments in church history,


where some people were all too eager to reject all tradi- tions and imagined they could somehow take a time machine back to the first century, we sometimes imagine that early Lutherans also thought all traditions were bad—especially if they weren’t in the Bible. But, in fact, Luther’s version


of the Reformation opposed such thinking and acting at every turn. Lutherans didn’t have trouble with traditions in the church, unless people worshiped them and thought they could be saved by following them. In his most famous writing,


Te Freedom of a Christian, Luther likened traditions to blueprints. Woe to the builder who worshiped the plans instead of building the building, and equal woe to the builder who tried to build without any plans at all. Traditions help give order to our Chris- tian life and, although no tradition is perfect, they oſten prevent far worse practices.


By Timothy J. Wengert


ditions. Luther preserved the basic shape of the Western liturgy, keeping the “Kyrie,” the “Glory to God,” the creed, “Holy, Holy, Holy” and the “Lamb of God” and only changing the way they were to be sung in German. Lutherans not only kept but also strongly defended the


church practice of baptizing infants—attested to directly at least since the third century. Aſter a brief hiatus, by the 1530s they brought back confirmation, started perform- ing ordinations and produced hymnbooks that contained ancient, medieval and contempo- rary hymns and tunes alike. Tey kept much of the basic


structure of church order, with bishops, pastors, preachers and deacons. Unlike other Christian groups developing at the time, Lutherans kept organs, stained- glass windows and altars from the Middle Ages, although they sometimes eliminated depictions of prayer to saints or Mary. At the same time, Lutherans


BPK, BERLIN/CRANACH, LUCAS THE ELDER/ART RESOURCE, NY


also established new practices that quickly became traditions. Te Small Catechism, which began its life in 1529, is still used to train youth and new Lutherans around


the world. It contains prayers for morning, evening and mealtimes, which we still use today. Te Advent wreath, started in Germany in the 19th


Trust grace, not change In 1522 some leaders in Wittenberg decided to change century-old traditions regarding the distribution of the Lord’s Supper without properly instructing the people. Hearing this, Luther rushed back from Wartburg Castle, where he was being held in protective custody, and, risk- ing life and limb, got back in his pulpit in Wittenberg. He preached eight days in a row and admitted that


the changes (receiving the bread and wine in the hand and not the mouth) weren’t wrong but that weak people, who didn’t understand why these revisions were occur- ring, would be hurt because they would trust the changes rather than God’s grace. As a result, at every turn the Lutheran Reformation never threw out traditions simply because they were tra-


century by a pastor in an orphanage, has now spread to many Lutheran churches and beyond. Although there were some hymns in the language of


the people before Luther’s day, his hymns and those of his contemporaries started a tradition that continues today. If there is a rule about traditions for Lutherans, it can


be summarized this way. First, a tradition is not simply bad if you can’t find it in the Bible. Human beings can’t live without traditions, and most of the time when we get rid of one, we simply replace it with others. Second, when changing traditions or insisting on


keeping the ones we have, special care must be taken for the weak in faith. Even if we know better than to worship a tradition, other people may get confused. Tird, whatever the tradition, we must remember why we have it: to organize things in our lives so we can


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