(One simply cannot begin a discussion about the topic of tradition without singing the word thusly:)
Everyone has traditions. Some of them are more obviously identified as such, but others slip under the radar, disguised as "habits," perhaps. There are things like eating cake and singing when celebrating someone's birthday, going to see fireworks on the Fourth of July (or eating pie on March 14th), praying before meals, or even things like bedtime rituals and which side of the bed one sleeps on. These are things that get built into our lives, either handed down from generations past, or added in more recently, of our own making. They're done for different reasons; sometimes it's purely pragmatic, but other times it's mostly nostalgia, a clinging to some piece of the past.
Growing up in our little town church there were plenty of traditions. We followed a basic, predictable order of service. We sang certain hymns at certain times, had Christmas Eve services that involved candle light and musical performances, and for a while every Sunday evening in the summer we'd spontaneously gather at the local ice cream stand to enjoy a warm evening in each other's company. Traditions would occasionally morph and change as circumstances altered, but they were comforting, providing a familiar routine and rhythm to life.
After leaving home and joining the Vineyard, though, I found that things were approached from a different angle. Oh, we had our own quasi-traditions - a usual order of service, however simple - but with our primary emphasis on attracting and reaching the lost (rather than on feeding the sheep), traditions were largely jettisoned in favor of making things as comfortable and accessible as possible for people who had been turned off by the church in general. I remember, actually, a billboard our church put up on the highway that had a picture of an old sofa, with the caption: "Comfortable". (I think at one point it switched to a pair of worn-in sneakers.) Things like crucifixes and songs about being covered with the blood of Jesus were decidedly not apropos, so those traditional elements of the Faith were eschewed in favor of contemporary worship, dim lights and comfy chairs, and self-help-type sermons.
This trend continued at my next, non-denominational church. We would go through the service, trying to see it through the eyes of the "unchurched," and remove anything that we thought might be confusing - a turn-off or a barrier to them. Tradition was, largely, an impediment to be removed. God was doing a new thing, after all. Paul became all things to all people. We needed to be "relevant", and things like hymnals and vestments are decidedly out of touch with our current cultural context.
Something happened to me after a while, though: I fell into confusion and theological errors of all kinds. Mysticism, Pietism, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Premilennial Dispensationalism, Gnosticism, perhaps a touch of Modalism or Partialism...the list goes on.
As I began questioning my beliefs (in the process of becoming Lutheran) and with horror realizing how much of what I thought was true didn't actually line up with what the Bible taught, it occurred to me that these errors are certainly nothing new. The church has been dealing with them since it's very inception. I discoverd that there were councils that met in the past specifically to discuss and combat these very falsehoods.
Why, then, are they still a problem? Why didn't they warn us? Couldn't they have saved us from so much wandering and heartache by putting up some safeguards or something?
Oh wait...they did.
"There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, 'I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.'” -GK Chesterton
Also from Chesterton:
"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father."
Contrary to what one may believe, the Church did not cease to exist after the book of Acts, and then only pop up again after the Reformation. Our Fathers in the Faith labored through controversies, studying the Scriptures, rooting out errors, and putting in place practices that would help to prevent them from becoming issues again. Things like the three Ecumenical Creeds (the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed) were created to combat various heresies, and knowing and reciting them helps keep us from falling prey to those dangerous false beliefs (which can put us outside of the Faith.) Then there are things like official Confessions (the Book of Concord for us Lutherans) that lay out in more explicit detail the things that we believe and why we believe them (and also what we reject and why.)
There are also plenty of other traditional elements in our services that teach and reinforce various beliefs, and have been handed down through the generations. Some of them are for our eyes: crucifixes (depicting the moment our salvation was accomplished), banners (with various symbols holding profound meanings), and vestments (that "hide" the pastor as man and highlight his office instead.) Others are for our bodies: making the Sign of the Cross (as a remembrance of our Baptism), kneeling for confession and when receiving the Sacrament of the Altar (to show and teach humility and reverence), standing for the reading of the Gospel (to convey the importance of these Words), even choosing nicer clothing to wear (to help us remember this is not just another ordinary day, and the Christ Himself will be physically present with us.)
There are many, many more. Here's a wonderful video that goes into some more detail:
Indeed, the entire Divine Service is full of things that are constantly teaching us and keeping us in the Truth. Most of it is taken directly from the Scriptures, which are always efficacious. They become ingrained in us, familiar, automatic. There are many, many of stories of elderly people who have succumbed to dementia, forgetting even their own family members' names...but when a pastor starts to go through the Liturgy with them, recite prayers, or sing hymns, it all comes back and they join in without hesitation.
It's good for us to be "present" in these words and acts, but even when our minds wander, there is still great benefit in the training and reinforcement that they provide.
This video explains it beautifully, I think:
These traditions that have been handed down from our forefathers in the faith I now see as one of the great treasures of the Church that ought to be preserved and cherished. Crossing myself, kneeling, bowing, saying memorized prayers, and so on...these are all things that not only provide a link to the past, but are continually teaching me what is true, hammering it into my thick skull day after day. They are treasures that I hold dear and close to my heart, as things of inestimable value.
God be praised for the faithful who have gone before, and the gifts that He has given to us through them.
Amen.
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