Rich Tradition

Rich Tradition

When your six-year-old describes a run to Chick-fil-A for milkshakes before heading to view Christmas lights as a tradition, you know you have established something special. There are many rich traditions at Christmas, and so many of them are full of deep meaning. But the trap that we can fall into, if we aren’t careful, is the trap of traditionalism.

Traditionalism proclaims that holidays or other moments are incomplete unless the tradition is observed. Traditionalism mandates things be done a certain way because that is always the way they have been done.

Tradition, on the other hand, emerges naturally, over time, as something valued and treasured because of the significance of its meaning. Tradition is to be celebrated, not because of the way it is done, but because of its meaning and what it represents.

Jesus battled traditionalism every day, especially on the Sabbath. He lived in a time when the ritual of the Sabbath came before the reason for the Sabbath. Regulation became the driving force, and it choked the life right out of the important day.

In Mark 2:27 Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.” Keep the life in your traditions by making sure the ritual doesn’t take precedence over the reason.

The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

Mark 2:27