I've also been thinking about Traditions and I started re-reading a book I half read years ago, Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper, and thought it dovetailed well with the talk.
Tradition: Latin, traditio, from trado, to deliver.
The transmission of any opinions, or practice from forefathers to descendants by oral communication, without written memorials; that which is handed down from age to age by oral communication.
"I thought about our meagre Christmas traditions. I tried to see them thought the eyes of a curious toddler...I mentally supplied the question he wouldn't even know yet to ask: "Why candles?"
"Why?" I realised that was a question I was going to have to answer from now on, not just for Christmas traditions that particular year, but for all years and every day..."
Referring to Exodus 12:26-27, the author continues:
"Moses assumes children will ask why. And he instructs parents to give an answer that speaks of reality. This instruction is all in the context of laying out for children ceremonies that will portray the answer.
Now although we cannot bequeath God to our children, we can help them know Him and understand Him in ways that prepare them to believe in His Name. "Everyday" and "especially" traditions in a family are an important part of that teaching, of picturing who God is and what He's done in our home and the world. Traditions are a vital way of displaying our greatest treasure, of showing what -Who- is most important to us."
The book is available as a free download here.
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