"Are we not constrained by the love of God to exert pressure on the limits of our own inherited traditions, recognizing the theological need of what we may call 'theological risks'"

As we enter 2026, what is at risk for us as the Church? Do we allow politics and fascism and hate and cults of personality drive us? Will trends and hot topics? Will culture and Donald Trump and "evangelicalism" and fear?

This is a reality that was true in 1961 when the World Council of Churches met in New Dehli. This is a reality that was true for the church in Acts, the post-Constantinian church, the reformers, yesterday, today, and it will be true tomorrow.

Our traditions, though, since the reformation, have shaped who we are and how we as the Church responds to what might need to be done, and what must be done. How the gospel affects the current culture situation in our current time isn't affected solely by the Holy Spirit and it's guiding, but the positions that our traditions have taken. We are shaped by our culture, but also shaped by our personal, historical, and familial responses to our culture.

The Holy Spirit intervenes, thankfully, but our response to weighing the validity of the Holy Spirit's leading in God's love for the world is discouraged by out dated traditions that have little to do with the need in the world around us.

This isn't to say that our traditions are bad or that we don't always respond well or that God can't keep doing great work in the world through the people who are sincerely following Jesus.

This is to say that our measure for what we ought to do, what the Church should be about, is the answer to the questions: "who needs the most love?" and "how do we love them?"

If the answer to these questions is met with trepidation due to traditions, we must question the traditions. God's love cannot be constrained.

The question "who needs the most love" itself may draw a sense of qualification. What if they use the money for drugs? What if they don't love their partner the way I do? What if they have a different religion? What if they made bad choices and will make bad choices again?

These are risks - relational risks, support risks, theological risks - that we approach as we ask ourselves "how do we do church in our current time?" This a big question, it could be a broad question, but it is a parallel question to "who needs the most love" and "how do we love them". And when we answer those questions solely according to our traditions, we miss the opportunity that God has laid before us.

The through line that remains true, beyond our traditions, beyond our own wisdom, is the love of God who loves us anyway.

If our tradition answers the question "how do we do church in our current time?" doesn't include seeking out the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed, if it doesn't include creating community with those same people, if it doesn't include participation with those in our society who are in the most need - we should question those traditions.