Three reasons to end a tradition

This week a Christmas tradition came to an end. The buttermilk fudge we made turned out perfectly: pure sweet creamy deliciousness that we didn’t have to eat with a spoon. Thus we thankfully ended a 15-year streak of a runny, gooey mess.

As our family grows and grows up, we have other traditions that are coming to an end as well. While I’m sad for some of them to go, I also realize that change is inevitable. Sometimes, for the sake of our physical and spiritual growth, we set aside traditions of the past with good reason. Here are three good reasons to set aside tradition:

1.    When the tradition dishonors God

Jesus told the Pharisees in Mark 7:6-8, HCSB, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men. Disregarding the command of God, you keep the tradition of men.” He also said to them, “You completely invalidate God’s command in order to keep your tradition!”

Traditions that enslave, oppress and encourage false worship must be set aside for the truth of the gospel. Jesus had harsh words for the Pharisees for enslaving the people with legalism rooted in religious tradition. Instead, the gospel of Christ is rooted in a relationship of love with our Creator that translates to loving those around us and seeking God’s best for them. If you practice a tradition for the sake of tradition itself, it needs to stop. Now.

What traditions do you keep that invalidate God’s commands? 

2.    When the tradition facilitates pretense

We all want to portray ourselves in the best light possible, but sometimes our traditions facilitate pretense, causing us to be dishonest with ourselves and with God. 

Again, Jesus criticized the Pharisees for this type of behavior: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation” (Matthew 23:18, NASB).

Pretense facilitates an “I’m OK. You’re OK” mentality that keeps us from admitting the truth: we are all sinners trying to make sense of the messed up world we’ve created and of which we are a part. Pretense denies our need for a Savior. 

In what areas of your life are you pretending? 

3.    When the tradition stifles the work of the Holy Spirit

The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 43:18-19 HCSB, “Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to the things of old. Look I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” 

 

Tradition can keep us from allowing the Holy Spirit to do a new work in our lives and the lives of those around us. When we adhere to tradition too strongly, as the Pharisees and Sadducees did, we can miss the Messiah living among us. 

 What “new thing” does Christ want to do in your life in 2015? 

Let Him do it. Now.

Failed fudge, broken nativities and other Christmas traditions

Kirk Cameron recently took some flack (at least from some of my friends) about his “advice” to moms “to keep the joy in Christmas.” In plugging his film, "Saving Christmas,"  on his Facebook page, Cameron’s most offensive statement appears to be this one: “Let your children, your family, see your joy in the way that you decorate your home this Christmas, in the food that you cook, the songs you sing, the stories you tell and the traditions that you keep.” 

Well, Kirk, we have some traditions in our family — traditions that have crossed continents, climates and cultures and survived every season of our lives. Here are a few:

Failed fudge.

Every year, I make a batch of fudge that doesn’t set up. It isn’t that I want the fudge to fail. It just does — every single year. And every single year, the four of us get out our spoons and enjoy the runny mess — every single bite.

Baking disasters. 

Every year, I embark on a plan to make home-baked goodies for neighbors, friends and colleagues. I plan to bake dozens of cookies and make several types of Christmas candy. The enthusiasm lasts through about a dozen cookies and one batch of failed fudge when I decide it’s too much work (and cleanup). So, we abandon the project; eat the fudge with a spoon and resort to gift cards for only our very closest friends (sometimes).

Broken nativities.

A pig joins the party

But perhaps the most significant Christmas tradition we share as a family are the broken nativities we display each year. I’ve collected nativity sets since the early days of our marriage and living overseas added extra flair to the collection. I have a set from South Africa that includes a zebra and an elephant. In a set from the Philippines, the wise men are riding water buffalo. My set from South Korea includes a hand-carved pig — an animal I’m not sure was actually present in that Jewish stable all those years ago.

But without a doubt, my favorite piece is a white ceramic shepherd, part of a set my mother-in-law gave me years ago. In 2004 in the parking lot of the John Sevier Baptist Church mission house in Knoxville, Tennessee, that little shepherd lost his head in an unfortunate spill. Rather than throw him away, we glued his head back on, and he joined the host of other pieces in my various collections that have been chipped, broken and glued back together through our many international moves. My husband once joked that instead of writing on the nativities the date we purchased them, we should write the date they were broken.

The decapitated shepherd

And that’s why I love that shepherd. He shows up at the manger every year just as I do: broken and stuck back together. He reminds me how very much I need a Savior. He reminds me that my brokenness is the reason Jesus came. At the manger, I don’t have to pretend I have it all together. I can simply worship the God who became flesh and lived among us. At the manger, it isn't about me. It's all about Him.

So, this year, while the rest of the world hustles and bustles to create the “perfect” Christmas, I hope I’ll see you at the manger.

I’ll be the one with the cracked head, eating fudge with a spoon.