Tradition and Continuity - Donuts, Sci-Fi debates, and the Holidays

Let’s talk tradition and continuity. What inspired this was something that feels too-rare on the internet - something well spoken and well reasoned. That will be shared later in the post when we get to a response in a mid 90s AOL Sci-Fi fandom debate. But let’s start with donuts and then the holiday season, then we’ll come to the sci-fi and then some theology...

I’m currently writing this while one of my kids is driving on our way to a family gathering for Thanksgiving. We are following the same route that we have driven many times before which takes us through Washington, Pennsylvania where there is a Krispy Kreme whose hot light shines like a beacon in the night.

My two donuts were the maple and original glazed on the top row...

Pretty much every time we drive through here, there is a stop whether the hot light is on or not (it wasn’t this time unfortunately). As a result, it has become something of a tradition to stop. At this point, it probably would create some serious angst among the low-mileage young adults in our family if we decided that we would no longer be stopping. Traditions and continuity are like that.

Speaking of tradition and continuity, we are entering the season of the year that is probably tied to tradition and continuity more than any other time.

Some of our Christmas lights reflecting off the soaked blacktop in the rain

The list of traditions for Thanksgiving week is lengthy - particular foods (in general like turkey and stuffing and then also specific to individual families such as a unique kind of pie like the cranberry one that is made by my in-laws) and activities (watching or playing football on Thanksgiving day or specific rivalry games). Capitalism has gotten in on the act as well (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc). Just imagine how it would go if your family has always had a certain kind of side dish for Thanksgiving and it was just arbitrrily decided that it would be replaced this year. Or your teams decided that the rivalry was no longer going to be played (I’m looking at you Colorado and Nebraska - sigh).¹

Moving to spirituality…As one in the Jesus tradition, I can speak to the transitions of the Advent and Christmas seasons. The tree goes in the same place. The lights go up in the same way and at the same time. Certain ornaments are always hung up, and the list goes on. For instance, in our house we put up two Christmas trees. One upstairs with the “nice ornaments” and one downstairs that is dubbed the “Geek Tree” and is populated by Star Wars, sports, Doctor Who, Superheroes, and other geeky themes.

Within the church, certain songs and carols have to be sung or specific traditions need to be upheld from year to year or someone (likely the pastor) is going to hear about it (directly or indirectly). One thing for me personally during the Christmas season is that there’s few things more meaningful for me is when the lights are all dimmed on Christmas Eve and we hold up our lit candles while singing Silent Night. That is a tradition that is dear to me. But what happens when something changes?

I remember one year in a previous congregation where we neglected to sing a specific carol throughout the Advent and Christmas season. Shortly after the new year, the leadership received a deeply angry anonymous letter from someone in the congregation saying that we had ruined the rememberance of the birth of Jesus and that a public apology should come to the congregation.

Now tradition and continuity aren’t all bad. They connect us to our history and our root us in who we have been and how we find ourselves where we are today. They provide the basis for passing core stories on from one generation to another. We have things in our family from past generations that we will hold onto no matter what because they are connections to people and places that are no longer with us - tangible items but also practices and stories. Tradition and continuity can be beautiful and healthy and vital.

Here’s where the 90s AOL Science-Fiction debate comes in. While my son was driving, I saw a post on BlueSky sharing screenshots of an archive of a Star Trek forum on AOL from sometime in the mid-90s. Ronald D Moore, one of the creatives behind Star Trek: The Next Generation (and other spin-offs) was responding to some strident criticism about how continuity seemingly had been ignored in some decisions that were made in an episode. As a Star Wars geek, I’ve seen countless examples of this same thing happening (and I’ve probably participated in some of it) within the Star Wars universe. In the SW fandom, it has more recently been rooted in changes around inclusion and representation (a female Jedi - gasp! An asian lead character! horrors! are a few examples of this). Here are the screenshots of the responses from Ronald D Moore from those forums. They’re a bit lengthy but totally worth the read even if you don’t know the stories being referred to.

What I heard in this was a clear statement speaking against holding the wrong things too tightly and the vital things too loosely. The commentor is holding too tightly to the small things of the story and not holding tightly enough to the core message and narrative.

In what Moore shared in response to the second commentator, I heard some truths that could be applied to the Christian (or any other) faith. When Moore says, “If you stop and think about it for a moment, you’ll see that its nothing short of amazing that Trek’s continuity is to tight after so many years and so many different people involved in bringing it to life.” I feel that way about Scripture - it is remarkable that the Bible holds together as well as it does considering it was written by hundreds (?) of people over centuries after and alongside being shared by oral tradition. Does the Bible generally hold together? Yes it does. But does it hold together with an airtight perfection? No it doesn’t. Similarly with the theology and actions of the church over the last 2000 years. There’s a lot that holds together but there’s a lot that doesn’t. And that’s ok.

And that brings us back to tradition and continuity. In the church, we can definitely get caught up in holding too tightly to the not-as-central things and too loosely to the central things. A few examples…Do we need to find a way to perfectly reconcile the different ways the Gospel writers tell the story of who was at the tomb for the resurrection or can we accept that the core of the story is that it was several women who were the first to receive and proclaim the news? Do we have to find a way to scientifically explain the Creation story as seven 24 hour days or can we accept that it is a story of ancient people trying to explain where all this came from with a beautifully unique perspective on the creative love and power of the divine? In the history of the church, we can (and we have) gotten wrapped so around the axle of what happens at the communion table that we lose the story of Jesus telling us to remember his teachings, his life, and his sacrifice?

And this can be widened out in so many other areas. Sci-fi fandom debates. Donut stops on roadtrips. Family traditions. Worldviews and allowing for an openness to new ideas and changes. What is essential and what is not? What should be held tightly and what can be held loosely or simply let go?

I’d love to say that I have this all figured out but I don’t. I can fall into the trap of holding onto too much too tightly and then realize what I’m doing when I look down at my proverbial white knuckles and realize what I’m doing. I’m still learning on this. But I can say that I have grown to hold a lot more loosely than I have before. I guess that goes back to the sense of expansiveness I wrote about a few months ago. An expansive perspective realizes that things are bigger than we can grasp and control. It recognizes that we cannot hold tightly to everything but instead let go and let in what is all around us.

Have to admid as I am finally landing this plane that I am thinking back to those donuts and wishing we hadn’t eaten all of them...

Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed

PS - Your dose of Scout from a day or so ago…

1. 62-36 IYKYK