Some traditions are very good and should be maintained because they provide important reminders of things that still matter. The still matters is the hard part because at some point in time the tradition becomes more important than the people involved. In church life, our message is sacred but our methods should always be changing. Why, because contextualization teaches us to never let the methods step on the ability of the people to hear the message. Ed Stetzer is always great and this post is not exception:
“Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.” -Jaroslav Pelikan
They can create shared memories that remind those who participate in them of important events or truths.
Family Traditions
In the summers when my daughters were a little younger we had a standing appointment on Saturdays. We used to go to Cracker Barrel and make the rounds of the garage sales nearby to see if anyone else’s junk should be our junk.”
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