Through Advent and into Christmas, I have been reflecting on traditions.
Traditions can be important and helpful. They can bring order into otherwise chaotic circumstances and they can remind us of the purpose of an event or celebration. They are a common experience that we can use to foster fellowship and community.
Traditions can also become barriers, distractions and even sources of hurt. This is as true within our churches as it is within our homes as well.
It can be incredibly difficult to adjust our traditions, incorporate those of others and perhaps hardest of all, let some of our traditions go.
If you are, or have ever been married then you know this is true.
When two people bring their lives together, their traditions come too. Yet, they are rarely the same. A process begins that requires some traditions to remain and for us to embrace them out of love for the other, some to be modified to include those of the other and some will be retired. This can be a painful process.
What's worse, just because someone else holds a different tradition than yours, doesn't mean yours is wrong (It doesn't mean it is right either). That's the thing. Our traditions are important, they matter. But so do those of others. Traditions aren't right or wrong, they simply ARE. Yet traditions can become so important to us that we take it personally when someone seeks to preserve a tradition of their own, at the expense of ours. We can also become angry when new information or experiences render one of our traditions unnecessary. Just ask Christ. Jesus experienced the full force of such anger at the hands of those he came to love.
If you are reading this and thinking "I know someone who really needs to read this!" I would ask you to pause, take a breath and then assume that YOU are the person who needs to read this.
As I reflect on 2020 and look ahead to 2021, I wonder what it would look like for us to make humility our catchphrase? What if our concern for others gave us ears to hear and minds to understand the traditions and values of others? If we value our own traditions so highly, wouldn't it be loving to then value those of others just as highly? Rather than protect our own, could we seek to learn about other's and submit our own traditions for them to learn and understand as well?
My prayer for us all today, is that 2021 would become the year of the other. May God help us to place the needs and values of those we mean to love, ahead of our own. The Bible tells us that God knows what we need before we even open our mouths (Matt 6:8). May we each live like we believe this, knowing God will care for us. Secure in that promise, God help us all to act lovingly toward our brothers and sisters in Christ, our neighbours ("Who is my neighbour?" they asked Jesus) our cities, nations and even our enemies (this includes those who vote differently too).
We can have our traditions, enjoy them and value them. But as people called to love everyone, that call requires us to be careful with our traditions too. They ought never make someone else feel less than. They must never become more important than what they point us to. They must never diminish those of another.
As I write this, I know I will have some work to do. In the name of love, and as a follower of Jesus I believe it will be well worth it.
