Knowing When to Change

Knowing When to Change

Romans 12:2

            The opening song in the musical Fiddler on the Roof is entitled, ”Tradition.”  Tevye, the lead character, sings about the traditions that hold his little village of Anatevka together.  We are introduced to some of the townspeople, individually and in groups, and hear about the traditions that govern their lives.  By the end of the song we realize how important tradition is to these people.  Their lives are bounded by their traditions, and they are prepared to live out those lives with no changes.

            The remainder of the musical details the changes in Tevye’s life.  His three eldest daughters all marry, each one breaking a more important tradition than the one before.  At the end of the story even the tradition of place is broken, as Tevye and his family are forced to leave their home for America, while the three elder daughters are scattered with their families.

            While we may not hold tradition as sacred as the people of this tiny village, many of us are bound so strongly by our own traditions that we cannot see any reason for changing.  Others seem ready to throw out any and all traditions at the drop of a hat.  “Out with the old!  In with the new!” is their battle cry.  “Get rid of the fossils to make room for new ideas and ways of doing things.”

            What’s right?  Do we hold tightly to past ways of believing and acting, or do we greet change with open arms, ready to move forward into a brave new world?  The answer is—both. 

            John Foster Dulles said, “A capacity to change is indispensable.  Equally indispensable is the capacity to hold fast to that which is good.”  In other words, the problem is not whether to change or not, but to be able to discern which traditions are worth holding on to (in Dulles’s words, “that which is good”) and which to let go—what to keep and what to discard.

            John Baillie, in his book A Diary of Private Prayer, says it differently.  In one of his morning prayers he asks God to help him stand, “…for the conservation of the rich traditions of the past:  for the recognition of new workings of Thy Spirit in the minds of the [people] of my own time…”  One day later he prays, “Let not the past ever be so dear to me as to set a limit to the future.  Give me courage to change my mind, when that is needed.”   In other words:  “All-Wise God, help us to understand which traditions should be continued and which should be set aside because they are keeping us from spiritual growth.  Don’t let us be trapped in the short-sighted vision of one who is continually looking backward, but also help us not to throw the proverbial baby out with the proverbial bathwater.”

            In his letter to the Romans, Paul appeals to that Christian community to be “transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Paul is speaking specifically about giving up conformation to the world, which, for him (as for us) is diametrically opposed to the will of God, and the exact opposite of what is good, acceptable and perfect. 

            In most cases the things which we should give up are easy to spot.  If you need a reminder, check Galatians 5:19-21.  Here, as in other places in his letters, Paul lists those “traditions” of the world which we should discard. Most of them are easy to identify if not quite so easy to dispense with.

            It’s more difficult to give up what seems to be good and acceptable for what we know is perfect.  Sometimes attitudes and habits which have always seemed to be all right suddenly look less so in the new light God shines on our lives.  This is when tradition becomes a burden and an impairment to our spiritual journey.  This is when what was once the way we lived must be jettisoned to make room for new insights and new workings of the Spirit in our lives.